Not a Flower
by Shelby95
Summary: Lily Evans has a twin sister named Elizabeth. As they take their journey to Hogwarts, branching out from a close relationship with Petunia, each stumbles into their own troubles.
1. The Beginning

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present]

August 1971

Spinner's End was covered with tall trees sprayed with virescent leaves and flowers of various colors and shapes, as well as a light breeze that twirled about the gray houses lined symmetrical to their neighbors. While most families remained inside, sitting in front of their telly and forgetting about the changing world around them, three young girls sat upon their porch, playing a game of cards while laughing vigorously at each of their failed attempts to win.

These girls were all exceedingly different from each other. The oldest one had dirty blond hair that wrangled down to about her shoulders, with striking blue eyes. Her personality was consumed of a loving warmth that focused on protecting her family. She focused on her school studies with intent, but always made time to fix her sisters food; yet she had quite the jealous streak on her, while consuming most of her anger, she made sure jealousy was apparent when present.

Then there were the fraternal twins, both born on January 30, 1960. One had dark red hair and striking green eyes, with a light essence of passion resonating strongly. She was quite intelligent, focusing most of her time on her studies. She had no room for trouble-making, constantly criticizing others - in the nicest way - when they tried to do something "wrong". She was blunt about her feelings when someone pushed her far enough, but generally tried to portray a perfect girl status.

The other fraternal twin, was quite the opposite from her sister. Instead of luscious red hair, she had soft golden hair with bangs covering her forehead. She also had green eyes, like her twin, but they were tainted with blue and a sparkle of mischievousness. She was smart like both of her sisters, and got the same grades as them, yet she made time for pranking and having fun. She was easily amused, incredibly kind, and had her anger under check. It was a peculiar trait in her family: she remained the only one without a sharp tongue.

"Petunia, go already. We've been waiting for several minutes now, and I'm beginning to get bored," The blond twin said, waving her cards dramatically while smiling at her older sister. Petunia gave her a glare.

"You know, Elizabeth, not everyone is as fast as you in making decisions. You must think through to get the best result," She slapped down a four onto the concrete, then looked up at her sister.

"Says the one who's lost each of these nine games," Elizabeth quickly put down an eight and leaned back, eyeing the red head to indicate it was her turn.

Before Petunia could feistily respond, the other sister butted in, "Oh bloody hell you two, why don't you just get along?"

"Where's the fun in that, Lily? It's like having fries without ketchup," Elizabeth smirked as Lily placed a card down.

"Or PB and J without the peanut butter," Petunia said with a straight face. Both of her sisters burst out laughing at this odd remark.

"Then it would just be a jelly sandwich. That was a terrible analogy, Tunia," Lily laughed hysterically while her sister glared.

"Bite me," She said, throwing her cards down, "I forfeit. You two are worse than Severus."

"Eh, whatever you want, sis," Elizabeth continued to play with Lily until Petunia called out.

"Guys, what's that?" The sisters looked up at the sky, seeing a hazel owl swiftly flying towards them. They each looked astonishingly at this bird, wondering what an owl was doing so close to the suburbs.

It landed on one of the porch posts, dropped two ivory letters and flew off. The sisters looked at each other, waiting for one to make a move.

"Cowards," Elizabeth mumbled while she walked over to the owl, said hello, and then picked up the letters.

"They're addressed to you and I, Lily. Says it's from Hogwarts School. Have you heard of it?" Elizabeth quickly threw a letter at Lily, who fumbled with it before catching it. She was too confused to bother criticizing her sister on throwing a letter at her.

"No, I haven't. Have you, Petunia?" Lily looked at her older sister, who was glaring daggers at the letters. Her jealousy was creeping in.

"No. Open it," Lily and Elizabeth delicately opened the letters, and as they did, the alluring owl flew in the opposite direction of the house.

An eerie silence covered the porch as the girls read their letters. Lily raised an eyebrow, "This must be a joke. It must be a joke from Sev. This is... ridiculous."

"What does it say?"

Elizabeth answered while Lily continued to eye the letter, "Hogwarts apparently is a school of 'witchcraft and wizardry'. Apparently we're witches. This is so strange. It had a seal and everything, I don't understand."

"What?" Petunia grabbed the letter and quickly scanned it while Elizabeth ran inside to inform her parents.

"Ma, pa! Come out, quick! Lily and I got these strange letters!" Elizabeth quickly came back outside and grabbed her letter from Petunia.

"What is going on, you three?" Mr. and Mrs. Evans came out dressed in their pajamas - apparently typical of them on Saturdays - and looked anxiously at their children.

Lily thrust her letter at them, "Read this."

As their parents read the letters, the three sisters eyed each other. Each having a stream of different thoughts running through their head.

"You're correct, this is very strange. Here, there's a number on the back for 'muggle parents with questions'. We'll call, you three come inside and have a snack, okay?" Mr. Evans was always the logistic side of the married couple; and while he ran inside to call the number, he was followed by the rest of the family.

The three girls sat in the kitchen eating some chocolate chip cookies their mother had baked earlier that day. They were completely silent, attempting to eavesdrop on the phone conversation, but becoming ultimately unsuccessful.

"Well," Mr. Evans walked in with the letters and his wife, "this isn't a joke. Professor Dumbledore - the head of the school - explained it all to me. You two are witches. Don't ask me how it's possible, but you are. This explains the fact both of you can set things on fire and cause flowers to grow..."

"We're... witches?" Lily's eyes opened wide as she looked at her sister, who just shrugged in response.

"Yes. School starts on September 1st. Here, we took notes, read." Mr. Evans handed the notes to his daughters, and sat down, grabbing a cookie for himself.

"I can't believe this," Petunia said, "why aren't I a witch?"

A sinister stillness followed her question, and it wasn't until Mrs. Evans responded several minutes later that it was answered, "He said that because we're muggles - none magic folks, that is - we can't be. It's not uncommon for some people in a family to be magic and the others to not be. I'm sorry, Petunia. I know this must be upsetting."

Petunia stayed completely quiet, but stormed out of the room. Her sisters called after her, yet it was no use.

"Well. I suppose we should get all of these things on this school supply list. However, I can tell you, I'm not looking forward to buying frog scales. What could we possibly need those for? Bloody hell," Elizabeth said, smiling. The rest of the family, however, was not quite as amused.

This is about to be a crazy journey, Elizabeth thought, as the family sat with many unanswered questions.


	2. First Steps

Within Platform 9 and 3/4, children bustled with the parents to make sure they were on the train before 11 o'clock. There were first years who were more nervous than ever, and seventh years who were ready for this year to be over. Some parents cried, some lectured, some just smiled and stayed silent. Then there were The Evans, who were a mixture of all three.

"Please write, darlings. It will be odd receiving an owl, but that's okay because we love you and want to hear from you and don't care what the neighbors think. And be safe - I don't know much about this wizarding world, but it must be at least semi-dangerous," Mrs. Evans kissed her youngest children on the forehead and began to cry, causing Lily to hug her mother tightly while Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Ma, we'll be back before you know it. Chill out. I love you, but you're being a little melodramatic," Elizabeth spoke with a slightly annoyed tone, and Mrs. Evans glared after breaking away from Lily.

"Most parents in our world don't have to send their children off to a boarding school that teaches things they didn't even know existed until a month ago! Give me a break, child," Mrs. Evans proclaimed, wiping her tears.

"Your mother's right, Elizabeth. We just want you to be safe," Elizabeth had always been much closer with her father than her mother, yet loved them both the same.

Elizabeth shrugged, hugging both of her parents tightly, "I love you both," and then locked eyes with Petunia. Petunia had been glaring at them the entire time: since Lily and Elizabeth received their Hogwarts letters, she barely talked to her sisters anymore. Her jealousy and anger was quite steaming, mad that she now was being left alone, "I love you too, Petunia. Please don't be angry,"

Petunia stayed silent and Elizabeth walked over, hugging her tightly, but not receiving a response, "You'll always be my sister. Even if you hate me,"

Elizabeth broke away from an upset sister, and grabbed Lily's hand, pulling her toward the train, "Bye! We love you! We promise to write!"

As the twins walked onto the train, Lily cried almost hysterically. "Jesus, Lily, we're going to be talking to them all the time and we'll see them soon," Elizabeth sighed as she contemplated that her entire family was... well, dramatic.

"That's easy for you to say! You've always been the strong one!" Lily wiped her eyes and opened an empty compartment door, throwing her luggage in, but careful not to harm their midnight black owl, Kacey.

Elizabeth chose not to respond as she placed both of their luggages in the racks and let her new cat - light red with white stripes, crisply named Banter - out of the carrier.

The sisters sat silently as they watched outside the train while people said goodbye to their family. Their thoughts focused mainly on an angry Petunia, who had so much stealth she might just murder them in their sleep when they get back home.

Suddenly, the compartment door swung open just as four boys walked in. "I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here. We weren't really paying attention. We'll find another compartment," A tall sandy-blond with intense hazel eyes spoke, his cheeks turning red as he saw the two girls in the compartment.

"No, that is perfectly alright. You can sit with us, if you want," Elizabeth smiled at the boy, and waved her arm around the compartment, indicating that they were welcome to sit anywhere. The boy smiled appreciatively, whispered to the other boys, who eyed the girls, then nodded. They proceeded to enter the compartment.

A tall black-haired boy with large round glasses sat next to Lily, and next to him sat another tall black, curly haired boy. Next to Elizabeth, the sandy-blond who originally came in sat next to her, and then there was the slightly short, slightly chubby boy who sat next to him. A silence followed them after they settled.

"Well, I'm Elizabeth Evans, and that's my sister Lily," Elizabeth broke the awkward silence and motioned toward her sister, waiting for the others to introduce themselves.

The boys nodded, and then the boy with glasses introduced them all, "Potter. James Potter. And these are my friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew."

"Pleasure, I'm sure," Lily said quietly while Elizabeth shot her a dirty look. Her sister had never been one to socialize.

"Nice to met you. Are you all first years?" Elizabeth asked, covering up for her sister's slightly rude comment. They nodded their heads vigorously, smiling like idiots.

"Yeah, we are too. We're muggle-born and were astonished to find out we were wizards. Can you figure?" Elizabeth smiled, petting the cat in her lap. Banter purred loudly, stretching out across her.

"Cool cat. And yeah, we're all pure-bloods, so it wasn't too much of a shocker. But that must have been weird, finding out and all," The boy named James said. Another silence followed, and Elizabeth sighed, looking out the window, watching the scenery pass by.

Eventually, the six of them started talking and although Lily seemed to only take to Remus, Elizabeth thought all of them were hilarious. They taught her several things about pranking in the wizarding world, and stories about chocolate frogs and Quidditch.

"I can't wait to learn how to fly a broom! I've been playing American football since I was 6, and I think I would rule at being... what did you say it was, beater?" Elizabeth asked them.

"That's awesome. They usually don't allow first years on the team unless they're bloody brilliant, though," Sirius Black said. Him and James were the only ones talking to Elizabeth, while Remus and Peter both talked studies with Lily. The seating arrangement had by now flipped.

"Never flying a broom might be a disadvantage for me, but I guess we'll have to see," Elizabeth smirked, knowing when she set her mind to something, she'd never fail. It would take awhile for them to learn.

"Lily, are you excited for anything?" James asked her, pulling her from her Hogwarts a History. She glared, glancing at Elizabeth before responding.

"It's a school for wizards-" She began, before Elizabeth interrupted.

"-and witches,"

"what shouldn't I be excited about?" She attempted to go back to reading her book, searching for where she left off, but James wasn't going to stop talking anytime soon.

"You've got a good point, Lillikins," To his nickname for Lily, Elizabeth began laughing hysterically, choking on the previous chocolate frog she had been eating.

"Potter, don't ever call me that again!" She yelled at him, slamming her book shut. The two began yelling at each other about different things, such as the proper pronunciation of her name and what was an acceptable nickname and what was not.

"They've barely met each other and she already hates him. This is going to be rough for James, I can tell you that much," Elizabeth whispered to Sirius, who smiled wickedly in response.

"Yeah, and I doubt they'll get along anytime soon," Sirius told her, and in response Elizabeth sighed.

"Bloody sister,"

The train arrived at Hogwarts and each of them were sorted into the same house: Gryffindor, known for chivalry and loyalty. Elizabeth became very close with the four boys, while Lily seemed to cling more to other girls in the houses.

"This place is bloody awesome! Look at all this food!" Elizabeth exclaimed excitedly while grabbing a piece of pizza once the welcoming speeches by the staff had been finished.

"Mhmm," Sirius spoke, shoving another piece of chicken in his mouth. The two began excitedly talking - attempting to eat at the same time - about how many house elves must be working to make all this food.

"You two are disgusting," Lily broke away from her conversation with the blond Marlene McKinnon to reprimand her sister.

After Elizabeth swallowed, she spoke, "You just figured this out? Lils, you've been my sister for 11 years, I would think you would have picked up on this by now."

The entire group of boys began laughing at this comment, while Lily started glaring yet again.

"You know, Lily, if you keep glaring, your face is gonna stick like that," Elizabeth smiled lightly at her sister before taking another bite of her pizza. Lily chose to hold back her tongue and simply sigh, turning back around to talk to her new friends.

"Do you and her get along?" James asked from across the table, receiving a nod in response.

"We're super close; I think that's why we can abuse the crap out of each other," Elizabeth laughed, "do you guys have any siblings?"

"I don't, and neither do Peter or Remus, but Sirius does," James nodded at Sirius, indicating it was his turn to talk.

"Yeah, I've got a brother."

"How old?"

"He'll turn 11 right before our second year starts," Sirius smiled at the prospect of being able to walk his younger brother around the school, protecting him from older kids.

"Sweet. Are you two close?" Elizabeth asked him politely. He nodded.

"Yeah, we've always been pretty close. Brothers love," Sirius smirked a little bit, then focused back on eating while Elizabeth took up a conversation with Peter.

After the feast, Sirius, Peter, Remus, James, and Elizabeth walked up to the Gryffindor Tower, while Lily walked up with several other girls earlier that evening.

As the five were walking, they managed to forget what directions the Head Boy had given to the group and ended up on the sixth floor, unable to find the staircase back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"None of these doors are open! The professors probably aren't up here, probably still down in The Great Hall. We are so lost," Elizabeth cursed, tugging on another doorknob.

"I found an open door!" James called about ten feet away, causing the other four to walk over. It was completely dark, and it seemed to be a tunnel; the hidden door behind the statue was small, and it would require them to slightly hunch down.

"Wanna try it?" Sirius said, a spark lit in his eyes. The others agreed, all stepping in one at a time. They walked in silence up until they reached a fork in the tunnel (although not really a fork, seeing as there were four possible routes).

"Which way do we go?" Remus asked, wondering where they could possibly be.

"Uh..." James tried to answer, but came up empty.

"If my calculations are correct, we need to go left," Elizabeth spoke, causing all of the boys looked curiously at her.

"Well," Elizabeth began, "I've just been watching where we've been going and the turns and all, and it seems logical to go left. Since we're on the far west side of the castle."

The boys decided to trust her and they all began going left, eventually coming to a flight of stairs.

"Well, off we go," Sirius said, trying to push everyone up. They complied, and after going up the exceedingly long flight of stairs, they reached a short tunnel yet again before reading a dead end.

"It's got to be a hidden door, right?" Peter said with an inch of nervousness, and Elizabeth nodded.

"James, push against the wall," She said, and although James pushed, the wall didn't move.

"Bloody hell," Elizabeth said, shoving pass the boys and pushing the wall herself, causing a slight crack and the door to burst open, "was that so hard, James?"

James glared at Elizabeth, but said nothing as they all walked out.

"Holy crap, we're right outside the Gryffindor Tower. The other tunnels must have lead to the other common rooms," Remus breathed, standing still.

"That's so cool!" Sirius said, high fiving james, causing Elizabeth to smile.

"I bet there are tons of hidden tunnels. We'll have to explore. But later, 'cuz I need to sleep," She told the boys, briskly walking toward the Fat Lady portrait and telling her the password, 'pig snout'.

When they walked in, Lily immediately spotted them and began lecturing.

"Where have you been? Curfew was an hour ago!" Lily said, practically steaming. The group looked at each other, unaware it had taken them so long to find the common room.

"We got lost," Elizabeth told her sister, completely serene. Lily gave her a disbelieving look.

"No, really! We did!" Elizabeth motioned at the boys, who all nodded their heads in agreement.

"How could you have forgotten the way to get here? It's not that difficult." Lily spoke, playing a hand on her hip.

"Hell if I know, but we did," Sirius smirked. Lily sighed, and looked at her sister once more.

"Well, we should go sleep. It's ten o'clock and classes are early tomorrow," Elizabeth nodded at her sister, then looked at her friends.

"See you in the morning?"

"Of course," Remus responded, smiling widely. They all said goodnight, while the twins headed up to their room.

"Did you have a good time, Lils?" Elizabeth quizzed her sister, smiling as she slipped on a night gown.

"Yes! It was great. Although, I can't seem to understand why you're hanging out with those boys..." Lily sighed and wrapped herself in a blanket.

"They're a lot of fun, Lils. You should try talking to them," Elizabeth spoke, causing Lily to yet again sigh.

"Whatever you say, Lizzy. Goodnight," Elizabeth smiled at her sister, and got herself into bed.

This will turn out to be an incredibly interesting year, Elizabeth pondered while trying to fall asleep. Incredibly interesting.


	3. Swearing, Pranks, and 'Awful' Evans

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present].

September 1975

"Bloody 'ell, James, you're such a cheater," Elizabeth and her friends - James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew - were within the basement of her house, playing a game of wizard's chess. Her blond hair was tousled and her eyes shined with amusement, but also with intense irritation toward her fellow friend. The moon shone from a slight window near the ceiling across the room, indicating it was approximately midnight. The rest of the boys were all in tank tops and boxers, laughing hysterically at Elizabeth's failing attempt to win at wizard's chess.

"Face it, Lizzy, you will always lose. You suck at games," James winked at his best friend, moving his Queen forward, claiming check mate.

"FUCK IT ALL!" Lizzy took out her 7 inch, Hippogriff core, Holly wand and blew the chess board into pieces, sending the boys into a cover stance.

James lazily flicked his wand and sent the exploded chess pieces back into perfect shape, rolling his eyes at Elizabeth's dramatic racket.

"You have exceptionally bad sportsmanship," James stood up, collapsing onto the ruby colored couch in front of the large muggle stereo system.

"Bite me, James. Oh, and by the way, who's the one who made it onto the Quidditch team as a first year and is now the number one beater in the school?" Elizabeth smirked, smacking James with a pillow she found on the floor.

"Shut up," James sighed and buried himself under the pillow she had thrown, causing Elizabeth to chuckle.

"We should probably sleep," The previous silent Remus Lupin said before yawning, stretching his arms above his head. His awake friends - Peter was knocked out cold from exhaustion - nodded in agreement.

"You do that, but I'm gonna stay up and read awhile," Elizabeth spoke while the rest of the boys crawled into the inflatable mattresses sprawled across the carpet.

"Are you kidding me? It's 12:30 at night," Sirius told her, sending a sharp look across the room. She simply shrugged in response.

"Technically, it's 12:30 in the morning. But no, I really gotta start making that potion so we can all become successful animagi and not like that one woman Sherley Bradshaw who ended up being half crow and half human for the rest of her life..." Elizabeth trailed off and shuddered at the thought, then proceeded to search through blankets to find her Animagus Tricks and All book.

"Well, I guess I'll join you," Sirius said, flashing a smile at his friend before kicking Peter's sleeping figure as he strutted to Elizabeth.

"Suit yourself, mate," Elizabeth yet again shrugged and began treading up the cold lumber stairs and landing in the living room.

As she plopped herself down onto the floral couch, she heard the rhythmic footsteps of her long time friend behind her, soon to stop and land himself next to her.

Elizabeth glanced at Sirius and then at his book which was titled How to Become an Animagus Successfully. Elizabeth sighed and closed her book, leaning her head back.

"Everything alright, sugar plum?" Sirius used the common nickname for her as he too closed his book and stared curiously at his friend.

"We've gotten old," Elizabeth spoke honestly, causing Sirius to release a bark like laugh.

"Elizabeth, we're fifth years. We're hardly 'old'," Sirius said, patting her on the head.

"Do you remember when we were first years? It was great. Didn't get in a lot of trouble, classes were easy..." Elizabeth smiled and leaned forward, placing her head on Sirius's lap. Sirius's hand began stroking her hair absentmindedly.

"Yeah, and now we're complete trouble makers. It's fantastic,"

"No! Not fantastic. Lily practically hates me," Elizabeth spoke, laughing at her own words.

"No she doesn't, Elizabeth. You two are crazy close,"

"True, but Petunia hates me,"

"Not your fault," Sirius said, ceasing to stroke her hair and staring deep into her eyes. She sighed.

"You're right. Let's go to bed. We do gotta get up early tomorrow. Off to Hogwarts we go!"

Elizabeth quickly bounced up, smacked Sirius lightly with her book, and ran clumsily down the stairs, landing at the bottom with Sirius on her tail. The two erupted in laughter while clutching their arms and legs, feeling the pain from which the collision had caused.

Remus Lupin sighed as he watched his best friends attempt to fix themselves, muttering sleepily about how his friends were total wankers.

"Lily, get your fat arse up!" Elizabeth pounced on her sister at around 9 in the morning, pushing around the silver comforter to awake her.

"Elizabeth, go screw yourself," Lily muttered, covering her head with her favorite pillow to try and block out the noise.

"That would be quite difficult, my lovely flower. But really, get up! Ma made some splendid breakfast, and we should eat before Petunia gets up and cuts us into itty-bitty pieces," Elizabeth smirked, standing up and facing the grand mirror Lily had in her violet painted room. She fumbled with her messy blond hair before turning around and giving Lily an expectant look.

"I'll be down in ten. You eat away," Lily said, throwing the blankets off of her to stand up and get dressed. Elizabeth smirked in triumph.

"That's the spirit!" She quickly thrust open the door and ran downstairs, past the living room, and into a maroon dining room. The boys from the previous night were sitting in the oak chairs, shoving preposterous amounts of food into their mouths, causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes as she sat down between James and Remus.

"Your mouths are like black holes. It's utterly disgusting," She grabbed a cream colored plate and gently picked out her breakfast: bacon and pancakes, with a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice.

"Don't care. Your mum's food is bloody fantastic. Why do we always spent time at my house? We need to come here more often," James said, shoving another slimy piece of sausage into his mouth. Elizabeth sighed while taking a bite of her bacon.

"I dunno, James. Because my sister hates your arse with a passion?" This comment caused all of the boys except James to burst out into laughter, spraying pieces of food across the table.

"Elizabeth Marie Evans," her mother called out from the kitchen, poking her head through the door, "we do not use that sort of language in this household!"

Elizabeth sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes, but simply told her mother, "Yes, ma. Sorry, ma,"

Once Mrs. Evans had walked away, Elizabeth swore under her breath, "Ruddy wanker,"

"I heard that!" Mrs. Evans called out, causing the boys to - yet again - laugh hysterically, receiving only glares in response as Elizabeth attempted to eat her meal in peace.

Within a matter of minutes, Lily came strutting down the stairs in a ruby colored shirt and faded jeans, groaning at the sight of her sister's friends.

"Lilikins! You've come to join the show! Sit down!" James smiled brightly, shoving Elizabeth out of her seat. Elizabeth snarled, but simply grabbed her plate and sat next to Sirius and Peter on the opposite side of the table.

"I'd rather not, Potter," Lily glared at James, then at her sister, before proceeding to sit down at the farthest available seat away from James.

"Oh come on, Lily, still on a last name basis? We're practically family!" James ate a clump of scrambled eggs as he waited for his 'family' to respond.

"Not to me, you're not," Lily roughly grabbed a muffin and slumped back in her chair, trying to avoid contact with any of her sworn enemies.

"Anyways," Elizabeth spoke, trying to break the tension, "who's excited for Hogwarts? Fifth year, woot woot!"

The table then broke out into conversation about how amazing Hogwarts would be, but the glee was soon interrupted by the discovery that James had somehow made Prefect instead of Remus.

"Are you kidding me?" Lily spoke, obviously outraged. Elizabeth swore under her breath, waiting for a fight to break out.

"What, Lily? Is it so hard to believe?"

"Yes, Potter," Lily spoke his name with incredible venom, "it is. You are absolutely the most misbehaving individual in the entire school and you made Prefect!"

James looked flabbergasted and landed his hand over his heart, "You have such little faith in me,"

"You are... I don't even have a word for it!" Lily screamed, standing up from her chair.

"Insufferable? Oppressive? Intolerable? Unendurable?" Elizabeth suggested, slightly amused at James effort to win Lily over.

"All of the above!" Lily said, slamming her half eaten muffin down on the table before storming off upstairs.

"Why can't you two just get along?" Peter asked shyly, unnerved by all of the loud noises.

"She started it!" James said defensively, receiving a nod from Elizabeth.

"True. But you could bring your blatant infatuation with her down a couple notches," Elizabeth said gently.

"Or more like ten," Remus smirked, causing another boiler of laughter.

In The Great Hall, at around 7 o'clock at night, The Marauders sat at their usual spots in the crowd while the first years were being sorted. Elizabeth twirled her hair absentmindedly, bored by the ceremony. Thank God we're at W, she thought bitterly.

"Psst," Sirius poked his friend in the stomach and whispered, "Collins won't stop looking at you,"

"Which Collins? There are like, twelve of them," Elizabeth said in a bored tone, scanning the hall to try and find who was staring at her.

"Matthew," Sirius said, discretely nodding towards a tall brunette boy sitting in Ravenclaw.

"The Ravennerd? I think not," Elizabeth focused her gaze back to the first years, where the last child was being seated upon the abnormally large stool.

"Just don't get knocked up," Sirius said playfully, causing a scowl from Elizabeth, but silence in response.

"Good evening, students," Professor Dumbledore began his annual speech after the final first year was sorted, "and welcome back to Hogwarts! Surprisingly, we have no new teachers this year, yet I must inform you all of the usual rules. Please refrain from entering the Forbidden Forest, as it is, hence the name, Forbidden. I also ask you as a whole to be careful in these dark times with the rise of a Dark Lord, who may be worse than Grindewald and forever frightening to society. On a brighter note, however, congratulations to our first years for being settled into - hopefully - their desired houses. I will no longer hold you from your food, so please, tuck in!"

As the glamourous colors of different varieties of food appeared on the table, much of the hall began to stuff their faces like they had never eaten before.

"Now that I've had your mum's food, Liz, Hogwart's food is like dog crap," James said, nudging some chicken with his fork.

"I'll let her know," Elizabeth laughed, stabbing a piece of steak with her knife and cutting into it.

"I wonder what all of that was about a dark lord and whatnot," Remus voiced his thoughts, receiving several shrugs in response.

"Hell if I know, but it sure didn't sound good," James said, aiming to forget about it by eating.

The rest of the evening went out without much excitement, however the buzz of happiness radiated throughout the castle up until the late hours of the night.

However, when Elizabeth woke up the next morning and strutted lazily into The Great Hall, she was happy to see the uneasy calmness has disappeared from the castle.

"I cannot believe you, James Potter! It's the first day back and you're already playing pranks," Oh, indeed he was, Lily. The Slytherin table was, at that moment, completely covered with all sorts of pink artifacts. The food, the table cloth, even each of the Slytherin's individual robes were hot pink. As Elizabeth approached the bickering Lily and James, she smirked at the masterpiece her friends had created.

"Why do you always assume it's me? How do you know it wasn't your sister?" Before Elizabeth could protest, Lily cut in.

"My sister hates the color pink! She doesn't want to look at it all day,"

"More of the reason for her to die her enemies pink!"

"James Potter, you are an insufferable-"

"Hello!" Elizabeth pushed her sister and friend away from each other, deciding it was time to stop the argument, "we're done. I want to eat without white noise. Can you two get along for once? For me?"

Although Lily was reluctant, she simply nodded and stomped over to the other side of the table, sitting with her friends. Elizabeth exhaled loudly as she sat down.

"Now, someone tell me who came up with the absolutely brilliant idea to turn the Slytherins pink," She spoke, smirking as she stole a glance at the suffering prats.

"Sirius's. Speaking of which, where is the bloke?" Peter spoke, glancing around the hall.

"Check the map?" James suggested, looking at Remus, who shook his head.

"Not in such a public place. But someone should probably go find him. We're already gonna be in lots of trouble for the Slytherin prank, I'd rather have him not do anything more troublesome," Remus sighed, waiting for someone to volunteer themselves to go find him. No one said anything for several moments, before Elizabeth responded.

"Bloody 'ell, I'll do it. Map?" Elizabeth gestured towards Remus, who gratefully handed over the map. Elizabeth stalked out of the hall and found an empty corridor.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," The map-in-progress unfolded itself, and quickly Elizabeth was able to find her friend. Alone. In the Room of Requirements.

She walked quickly to the secret room, paced three times, and it opened, only to reveal Sirius. He smiled at her as she walked in.

"What are you up to, mate?" Elizabeth asked, sitting next to Sirius on the fluffy couch the room had conjured.

"Needed some alone time. I've got some fourth year stalking me," Sirius said bitterly, throwing his head back.

"Ouch. Price you have to pay for being so devoutly handsome," Elizabeth smirked, then whispered, "Mischief managed," and put the map in her pocket.

"How's the map coming along?" Sirius asked, glancing at the blank paper.

"Pretty good. Remus and I are having some problems getting the staircases to move on the map, though. Throws off the whole system. And we are still working on all of the variety of insults we have for people who try to open it," Elizabeth laughed at the thought of some of the rude things James had suggested.

"We're kind of defying the system, listing out nicknames but not being animaguses yet," Sirius said sadly.

"It's animagi. And yeah, I know. How's the search going along, anyways? How close are we to the potion?" Elizabeth said, eagerly awaiting a response.

"We still need to get the spider venom. Gonna be hella difficult, but after that we can get this road on the show. It should only take a couple weeks to get the potion to be complete," Sirius nodded excitedly.

"Oh, I can get the spider venom. Slughorn loves me. Shouldn't be too difficult," Elizabeth said happily, imagining that in only a month or two she would be able to transform into a sultry cat.

"Awesome! We should probably head to breakfast, huh?" Sirius suggested, receiving a nod in response. The two walked to the hall, laughing about various things, ready for the new year to start. Very ready.


	4. The Ability to Lie

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present].

The Potions dungeon was lit with several extravagantly carved beige candles, magically hung around the room in various corners and extremities. The cold walls seemed gloomy, however, the various colorful potions on the tables around the room gave it a sort of glamour one would not expect.

Professor Slughorn was sitting at the front of his classroom, hunched over a piece of parchment. It appeared to be an essay, with plenty of red marks - obviously this student was going to get a failing grade. Slughorn sighed heavily as he evaluated the student's poor performance.

"'Daisies are used to make the Forgetfulness Potion and are burned before...' No, no, no. This is all wrong. Really, how can you get this much wrong?" Slughorn set the parchment down, frustrated, and took off his glasses, holding the bridge of his nose while trying to calm down.

A slight knock on the door interrupted his irritated thoughts, and the professor curiously looked up before calling out, "Come in,"

The door opened with a loud creak and one of his favorite students proceeded to walk in. Elizabeth Evans, however he preferred to call her Liza. Her blond hair on that particular day was pulled back in a high ponytail, leaving her striking eyes completely visible. Her white dress shirt was tucked in, her red and gold neck tie tied loosely around her neck.

"Good evening, professor," Elizabeth smiled sweetly at her potions teacher, gently closing the door behind her before walking closer to his desk.

"Ah, Liza. What can I help you with?" Slughorn's foul mood was automatically perked up by the sight of a student who actually knew what they were talking about.

"Well," She said, lazily sitting herself in a puffy chair across from the professor, "I was reading my potions book, and found a particular potion I'm interested in experimenting with."

"Ah, I always knew you loved to spend your free time doing extravagant potions! What is this potion you speak of?" Slughorn leaned forward on his desk, avidly awaiting to her her plans.

"I believe the potion was called Elevacorps. It's supposed to help cure several diseases within the wizarding world," Elizabeth smiled at her professor, waiting for his response.

"Ah, yes! Elevacorps! Quite an advanced potion for a girl of your age, Liza, but I have no doubt you can conjure it. Cures all sorts of ulcers and spell rebound effects. Currently there are being studies seeing if it can help improve someone's memory and therefore be a counter curse to the Obliviate charm..." Slughorn wondered off, caught up in all of the wonderful uses of this potion.

"Yes, and as you know I'm currently debating between becoming a healer or an auror. I think this would be a great thing to experiment with. I have most of the ingredients... Ashwinder eggs, bezoar, cockroachs, newt... however, I am missing one particular ingredient," Elizabeth sighed sadly, feigning overwhelming emotions of distress.

"What ingredient? I'm sure I can help you!" Slughorn said, hating to see one of his students in such distress.

"Acromantula venom, sir," Elizabeth felt nervous, afraid she wouldn't be able to receive this ingredient from him, but was such a good actress Slughorn did not notice.

"Acromantula venom! Oh, Liza, that is extremely rare, not to mention expensive. 200 galleons a vile!" Slughorn said, completely appalled.

"Well, professor, you see, for the amount I intend on making, I only need half a vile. I'm sure you must have some on stock, being such a great professor and all. It would really be doing me a favor, and I'm certainly willing to compensate you," Elizabeth reached into her handbag and pulled out a cotton bag that jingled at the touch. She pulled gently on the strings atop the bag, and sat there 100 galleons.

"Oh no, Liza," Slughorn flustered over his words, "that won't be necessary. I am certainly willing to help out a budding student such as yourself, free of charge. Here, I know I have several viles around here somewhere in my personal storage," Slughorn stood up, facing away from her as he walked over to a cabinet, unlocked it and began rummaging through the different viles to find the Acromantula venom.

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relieve, glad her plan worked, before Slughorn turned around with a vile.

"Let me just pour some of this into another vile. You said you needed half a vile, yes?" Slughorn looked curiously up at his student, waiting for a response.

"Yes sir, half a vile. No more, no less," She smiled kindly as he grabbed a second vile.

"You must not be making very much. Don't you need one vile for every 24 ounces?" Slughorn asked as he poured the clear venom into a vile.

Elizabeth nodded, "Yes, I'm only making about 12 ounces. You know how expensive Ashwinder eggs get. 400 sickles an egg! And you need four eggs for every 24 ounces! Needless to say, the less, the better,"

"Oh, certainly. They are very valuable and very rare. However, I certainly could have given you some. You didn't need to spend all of that money. 800 sickles! Merlin's beard!" Slughorn exclaimed as he handed the half filled vile over to the young student. She smiled in appreciation.

"That's okay, this is certainly enough. I appreciate your time, Professor. I'll see you on Monday in Double Potions?" Elizabeth questioned, receiving a nod in response.

"Please be careful with the venom, darling! Extremely fatal if not used appropriately! Wouldn't want anyone dying on your watch!" Slughorn yelled nervously as Elizabeth opened the door. She turned around, a slight twinkle in her eye.

"Certainly not, professor. No injuries on my watch. Have a splendid night," She said as she closed the door. Slughorn proceeded to drop into his chair, hoping that his student would be extra careful. Faith for him was a funny thing.

"Guess who's amazing?" Elizabeth said excitedly as she ran into the Marauder's room in the boys dormitory.

"No way! You got it?" James asked amazed as Elizabeth twirled a small vile.

"He has no idea what we're doing. He thinks I'm making a potion for my healer studies. Ha!" Elizabeth said, thrusting the vile at James as he looked curiously at it.

"You're amazing," Sirius said from across the room, coming to Elizabeth and kissing her appreciatively on the forehead. It sent a slight tingle down her spine, but she simply ignored it.

"Pretty much," She smiled and collapsed on Sirius's bed, groaning loudly in relief.

"Are you sure you guys want to do this?" Remus asked nervously from his bed, twittering his fingers. The rest of the Marauders nodded eagerly.

"Of course, Remus! Not only is it just super awesome, but we want to help you. Always," Peter said, grinning like a small child.

"Yeah, and you can't talk us out of it now that Elizabeth just got back from being a sickeningly good suck-up to Slughorn," Sirius said, pushing Elizabeth slightly so he too could sit on his bed.

"It was tough work. I should be an actress," She grinned devilishly at her friends as they all laughed at her confidence.

"Alright, enough of flooding Elizabeth with compliments. She's amazing, she's smart, she's gorgeous, blah blah blah..." James faded off, and Elizabeth turned her head, giving James an odd look.

"Didn't know you thought about me that way, Jamsie. Why are you after Lily instead of me?" Elizabeth winked and James let out a laugh.

"Because you're a bitch," Before Elizabeth could protest, James continued, "so when do we start this potion?"

An eerie silence filled the room before Elizabeth finally responded, "Tomorrow night. Since Remus and I are the best ones at potions here, we'll head over to the Room of Requirement after dinner and start up on it. It should take about three weeks if we work on it every night; four if we don't,"

The Marauders nodded at her statement, but then Remus spoke, "This is really stupid, you guys..."

"Remus," Elizabeth spoke kindly, moving herself from Sirius's bed and landing on Remus's, placing a hand upon his cheek, "we love you like a brother. I hate having to see you go to that bloody shack every month completely alone. We're gonna help you. Trust me, okay? You don't have to trust those losers," she nodded at the other boys, "but trust me."

Remus smile gratefully, however, Sirius began a rampage, "Losers? Excuse me, missy?"

"Sirius, shove a sock in it," Elizabeth turned her head to stick her tongue out at him, who simply sat astonished.

"You are a spoiled little brat," Sirius spoke under his breath.

"Heard that," Elizabeth said before curling up with Remus on his bed. Remus and the other two boys watched the fight, awfully amused.

"You're like you're mother. Crazy hearing," Sirius said, leaning against his bed post.

"It's a gift and a curse. I can hear you and all your sluts having sex down the hall from my room. Oh wait, so can everyone else. Damn," Elizabeth smiled troublesomely, and Sirius growled at her.

"It's always the girl, not me," Sirius said, throwing his hands up in defense.

"What girl? What ever are you talking about, Sirius? We're talking about you and the guy sluts. When have you ever slept with a girl?" The Marauders laughed loudly at Elizabeth's snark, but Sirius was fuming.

"Alright, I'm done," Sirius pounced from his bed - very doglike - and swiftly grabbed Elizabeth. She screamed, and he threw her over his shoulder, running down the stairs to the common room.

"Sirius Orion Black, put me down this bloody instant before I hex you into oblivion!" Elizabeth lectured as Sirius landed in the common room. Suddenly, the entire common room was silent and staring at them.

"Hmmm, possibly. Maybe. But you have to be nice," Sirius smugly said, receiving a hit from Elizabeth.

"Sirius, when is she ever nice?" Lily said from across the common room, receiving a heart-stopping glare from her sister.

"Lily, you are not helping the situation!" Elizabeth spoke to her sister, kicking furiously at Sirius's back.

"For a beater, your legs are shit," Sirius laughed, twirling around and landing Elizabeth face down on the floor.

When Elizabeth stood up, she was most certainly furious, "Dammit, Sirius. You're such a pain in my arse,"

"You love me," He spoke with his usual, slightly sarcastic tone.

"Sometimes," She stuck her tongue out at him immaturely, proceeded to hit him over the head, and ran out of the common room.

As her feet pounding loudly against the concrete, she could hear him catching up to her. She knew she had to find a classroom soon or he would tackle her onto the concrete - something that would be less than pleasant. Her eyes scanned the hallway while she ran quicker and quicker, and eventually found a door, which she pushed open, ran in, and shoved closed.

She panted heavily as she pushed her body weight against the door, hearing him only moments later try and break in.

"Let me in there, cat woman!" Sirius said, pushing more fiercely again. Elizabeth lost her concentration at the nickname of 'cat woman', began laughing hysterically, and Sirius was able to push in. She ran to the corner of the room, and cowered as he stalked over and began tickling her without mercy.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Elizabeth begged through her laughter, and Sirius stopped at command. Both were breathing heavily, grinning so widely their cheeks were hurting. She was still pushed up against a wall next to a window, unsure of what classroom they were in.

Suddenly aware of the close proximity in which they were in, Elizabeth began feeling awkward and did something she's possibly never done before in her life: she blushed.

Sirius didn't notice, but was locked in the gaze of her jade eyes. He felt an odd overwhelming sensation to kiss her, although the voice in the back of his head told him it had no need to be there. They were family. Right?

As they stood there staring at each other - without awkwardness, surprisingly - their breathing came to a slow rhythm. Before either of them could really think about much else, Sirius leaned forward toward her face, hovering slightly above her lips. His warm breath was seductive against her ruby lips.

"Caught you," Sirius said huskily. In response to this comment, Elizabeth closed the few centimeters between them and kissed him passionately.

It certainly wasn't either of their first kisses - both had plenty of experience over the years at Hogwarts - but they both felt like they were silly 12 year olds behind a playground experimenting for the first time. However, it soon was less cumbersome, and their lips began moving against each other sweetly as if they had been known to one another all their lives.

Sirius reached his hand up into her hair, feeling the softness against his rough hands and he let his other hand rest upon her waist. Elizabeth moaned quietly as she felt him push up against her, and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

However, once Sirius heard the moan, he was brought back into reality. I'm kissing Elizabeth, he thought. His eyes sprang open at this thought and pulled away quickly. Both released their hands from each other and stared with shocked expressions.

Oh bugger, Elizabeth thought, bringing her right hand to cover her mouth. Her lips were still wet and she could still taste the hint of cinnamon from his last piece of chewing gum.

"Uhm," Sirius spoke unknowingly. He was rarely at loss for words, but after making what appeared to be such a catastrophic mistake, he had no idea what to say.

"We should go. I've got to talk to Remus about, er, the potion," Elizabeth said after she moved her hand. Sirius nodded in response and walked gingerly out of the room, but stopped as his hand hit the door knob. He didn't hear her footsteps follow him like usual.

"Elizabeth?" He questioned quietly as he turned around, looking at her. She seemed out of the world; her beautiful face was laced with confusion.

Elizabeth's thoughts of the kiss were interrupted by Sirius's voice, and she looked up, "Oh, yeah. I'm coming,"

The two walked back to the common room in silence, both stuck in their own worlds.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, fuck Sirius thought, occasionally sneaking glances at his friend, Stupid Sirius, keep your damn hormones under control. She's your friend. Not your girlfriend. Or your play toy. Or, er, anything? And yet as Sirius tried to convince himself that she was indeed his friend, he felt as if something was missing. That kiss was an eye opener; a door had been thrust open, and now he couldn't close it no matter how hard he tried.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, wasn't exactly regretting anything. Friends kiss, right? It doesn't mean we like each other. Or have to date. It was an accident, anyways. Neither of us really realized who we were kissing. Yeah, yeah. It's fine. Because I don't like Sirius, and Sirius doesn't like me. Problem solved. Now, mind, shut up.

"Humble," Sirius spoke mutedly to the Fat Lady as the two friends walked inside the portrait hole. Although they felt awkward and uneasy, the Marauders - now sitting in front of the fire - noticed no change.

"You two are bloody wankers," James said, smiling at his dear friends. Elizabeth decided to turn on her acting skills.

"Blame Sirius! If he hadn't been such an overreacting prick, we wouldn't have this problem!" Elizabeth laughed, glancing at Sirius, hoping he too could act.

"Oh Elizabeth, shove it," Sirius joked, playfully shoving his friend. It was as if nothing changed.

I mean, other than the fact that that bloody shove just sent a heat wave through my body. Ah, fuck my life, Elizabeth thought before proceeding to sit with her friends.

And as they all joked about life, no one noticed how Elizabeth and Sirius weren't looking each other in the eye.


	5. Potion Brewing Fears

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present].

By the following evening, the awkwardness between Sirius and Elizabeth faded completely. They were completely back to normal, having fun during their classes; however, both of them had nagging thoughts in the back of their minds that they tried to keep at bay.

At around 7 o'clock, Elizabeth bounced her way up the boy's dormitory and knocked at the door, waiting for Remus to answer. It happened to be Sirius who answered. Shirtless.

"Hey Lizzy," Sirius said casually, sneaking glances down her body. She was wearing a tight green tank top, showing her curves, and her jeans hugged tightly against her thighs. Her hair was slightly wavy, and she wore little to no makeup. He liked it. Probably a little too much; too much to be standing it thin boxers.

"Hey Siri, where's Remus?" Elizabeth asked, trying to avoid the bulging muscles coming from Sirius's abs as she passed him and walked into the room, "as a matter of fact, where is ieveryone/i?" The room was empty of the usual Marauders.

"James and Peter are out playing wizard's chess... somewhere, not really sure where... and Remus is sick. Really sick," Sirius sighed as he closed the door.

"Oh no. Where is he?" She asked in a worried tone, glancing around, trying to find any sign of Remus.

"Bathroom. Puking his guts out. The next full moon is in about 5 days, that's probably it," Sirius said, but Elizabeth wasn't listening. She quickly walked over to the bathroom and lightly knocked.

"Yeah," Remus said weakly from behind the door, and Elizabeth walked in, closing it behind her. It broke her heart to see him in such bad shape: he was hunched over the toilet, vomiting chunks, pale as can be. The bags under his eyes indicated he hadn't gotten a chance to rest.

"Hey, need some company?" Elizabeth asked, smiling shyly at her friend before leaning against the sink.

"I'd rather you not see me puking," Remus said before suddenly hurling into the toilet and then flushing it. Elizabeth handed him a towel and a piece of gum.

"It's magic gum. Not only refreshing, but it should help with the nausea," Elizabeth said and Remus took it gratefully.

"Thanks,"

"Anytime," Elizabeth smiled, strutting over and gingerly touching his soft hair.

"You look like shit, mate,"

Remus laughed at Elizabeth's attempt to lighten the mood, "Yeah, I know. I don't think I'm gonna be able to work on the potion tonight. Think you can handle it by yourself?"

Elizabeth nodded assuringly, "Don't even worry about that, Remus. I'm a big girl," She winked at him, receiving a half-hearted laugh.

"You rest, okay? I won't keep bothering you," Elizabeth leaned over and kissed his forehead, walking out of the bathroom quietly.

"He doing alright? He didn't really want me in there," Sirius asked, now fully clothed. Elizabeth sighed in relief - the shirtless sight was distracting.

"He could be better. I gave him something that might help, but I dunno. I worry about him," Elizabeth sighed as she sat down next to Sirius on his bed. He gently grabbed her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. Elizabeth ignored the happiness that filled her soul at his touch.

"I know. It's hard. But we're doing all that we can," Elizabeth nodded in response, feeling exceptionally sad. They sat for several moments in silence before Elizabeth realized she needed to start working on the potion.

"I gotta start working on the potion. I'll see you later, then?" Elizabeth asked, standing up. Sirius stood up as well, confusing her.

"Let me come with you. I don't want you going alone," Sirius said, pulling out the Marauder's Map from his nightstand.

"Oh, okay," Elizabeth chose not to protest, happy to have the company, and the two began walking to the Room of Requirement.

"Hand me the bag of lacewing flies," Elizabeth ordered as she stirred the ruby red potion in a counterclockwise motion. Sirius obliged, and watched as she crushed them with a blade and dropped them in. The potion began to bubble, but soon it was calm and a light blue.

"I think we're done," Elizabeth said, closing up the baggie, "we gotta let it sit for... let me check... three days in 0 degree temperature, and then we come back, add the Tubeworms and Ashwinder eggs, then leave it at scalding temperatures for a fortnight," Elizabeth collected all of the ingredients and placed a charm on the potion, making it so no one could possibly find it when heading to the Room of Requirement.

"Okay, and then what?" Sirius asked curiously, standing up and collecting the cloak and map from the floor.

"And then comes the venom and the Dragon liver. And the rose thorns. And then we let it sit for another three days at room temperature, come back, add the fairy wings, let it sit for a night, and then we're good to go," Elizabeth said with a smile on her face, glad that this potion - although complicated - didn't take very long.

"Brilliant. And then?" Sirius said, opening the map to see if the coast was clear.

"And then we inject it into our veins," Elizabeth spoke quietly, receiving a shocked look from Sirius.

"Inject it into our veins? With like, needles?" Sirius had a terrible fear of needles - it was beyond ridiculous. Elizabeth nodded, slightly frightened.

"I'll do it, since I'm the one who wants to become a healer. Trust me, it'll be fine," Elizabeth spoke soothingly.

"Who will do it to you?" Sirius shifted his weight, cringing at the thought of needles poking his friend.

"I can do it myself, no worries. Opposite arms. What should happen, is that within the hour we go straight to our animagus form of our choosing. If the potion is brewed correctly," Elizabeth spoke, putting the invisibility cloak over the two of them as they quietly walked out of the room.

"And if it's not?" Sirius asked quietly, scanning the map for people who shouldn't be out at 10 o'clock at night.

"And if it's not... then... erm..." Elizabeth said awkwardly, not wanting to answer.

"What?"

"Well, then our arms fall off," She spoke in a frightened tone. Sirius stopped dead in his tracks.

"Our arms fall off?" Sirius whispered furiously, glaring at his friend.

"I'm brewing it correctly, don't worry! There's a simple way to test it. You grab a cockroach, put it in the potion. If the cockroach turns yellow, then it's brewed correctly. If it turns blue or green or some other color, then we fucked up. But I didn't fuck it up, so don't worry," Elizabeth said reassuringly, walking yet again. Sirius sighed dramatically.

"Arms falling off... bullshit... stupid... Moony... werewolf..." Sirius muttered, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Calm down. Your arms won't fall off, I got this under control. Now keep watching the map," Elizabeth said sternly, and Sirius glanced down.

"Oh shit," Sirius swore, grabbing Elizabeth and walking quickly towards a statue.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, trying to see what was on the map.

"Snape," Sirius said, glaring at the parchment. She glanced and saw him walking toward the corridor we were in.

"Crap. Okay, silent, now," Elizabeth said. She cast a nonverbal Muffalo charm on themselves, hoping that Snape wouldn't catch them. He had a tendency of knowing when they were in the area.

Snape was walking past, and stopped several feet away from them. Elizabeth's breath was caught in her throat, and she gripped Sirius's hand tightly. If they got caught, they were fucked. Detention would prevent them from going to the potion on time and then they would have to start all over. And Elizabeth wasn't really looking forward to paying for all of the ingredients again - plus, Slughorn might not be so willing to again hand away powerful, rare venom.

Snape began stepping forward toward them, and Elizabeth was frozen in her spot. As Snape reached out and almost grabbed the cloak, Sirius pulled Elizabeth toward his chest, making it so Snape grabbed air. He looked confused, but simply walked away without notice. Once he had passed, Elizabeth breathed heavily and was suddenly aware that they were - yet again - exceptionally close to each other like the night they had shared the kiss.

Elizabeth stepped away from Sirius and glanced at him, who appeared distressed.

"That was close," She said, glancing at the map Sirius had. No one was coming now.

"No shit. Let's get back to the common room before we get caught," Sirius spoke, and the two briskly walked back to the common room.

Close indeed, Sirius thought as they removed the cloak and walked in through the portrait hole, not referring to the encounter with Snape.


	6. Sweetness of Friendship

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present].

As the full moon was less than a day away and Elizabeth was five days into the potion, the tension, as well as the excitement, was bubbling within The Marauder group. Currently as Sirius, Peter, and James played pranks on some unsuspecting Hufflepuffs, Elizabeth sat in the boy's dorm room and took care of Remus.

"You should eat something," Elizabeth said, caressing his hot forehead. He shook his head in response.

"I'm not hungry," He turned over, sighing as pain shot through his body.

"I know, but I don't want you transforming on an empty stomach," She spoke seriously, giving him an all-knowing look. And he knew she was right.

"All right, I'll eat," Remus surrendered and Elizabeth smiled in triumph.

"I'm off to the kitchens. Stay here, and keep that ice pack near you. It'll help with the fever. Remember, there's only a couple more days and then you'll be back to normal," She told him as she crisply walked out of the room, leaving him alone to contemplate what his normal really was.

She passed down several staircases before arriving near the Hufflepuff dormitory and into the kitchens. She tickled the pear, laughing at the giggle it gave her, and walked in, not expecting anyone to be there.

"Lizzy!" James said excitedly, shooting a grin at her. She grinned back as she walked over to him.

"Hey James, I thought you were pranking?" She questioned, tilting her head slightly.

"Nah, I got hungry. Sirius called me a fat bloke and sent me off. He and Peter are dropping some sort of guts on a bunch of girly girls. Sad I'm missing it, but food is more important," He spoke before shoving a treacle tart into his mouth.

Before Elizabeth could respond with a sarcastic comment, a house elf approached her, "Hello Ms. Evans. What a pleasure to see you! How can Bettie help you today, Ms. Evans?"

Elizabeth smiled thankfully, "Just a small bowl of soup. Let's make it chicken noodle. Go more on the chicken and less on the noodle, 'kay Bettie?"

"Of course Ms. Evans! Anything else, Ms. Evans?" Elizabeth shook her head no and the house elf ran off into the depths of the kitchens.

"Anywho," Elizabeth said, turning toward James, "I'm sorry you missed the prank,"

"I'm sorry you missed the prank, girly! How's Remmy?" He asked, genuinely concerned. Elizabeth exhaled slowly.

"It's rough. He'll go out at about 11, and I'll probably help him there. He can barely walk. Has been in bed for the past couple hours," She glanced down toward the floor, her eyes filling with sadness.

"Well, soon we'll all be able to stay with him the entire time," James was always the optimistic one - and it constantly made Elizabeth smile.

She nodded as Bettie came back with the soup, handing it to Elizabeth, "Is there anything else I can do for you, Ms. Evans?"

"No, Bettie, thank you though. Here," She handed the house elf a sickle, who's eyes became wide and thankful.

"Thank you, Ms. Evans! Bettie is very much appreciative, Ms. Evans!" Bettie flustered, nodding furiously. Elizabeth simply laughed.

"Goodnight, Bettie," She faced James, smiling brightly, "see you later tonight, James. Have fun pranking,"

"See ya, Liz!" He waved as she walked out, then shoved his face with another treacle tart.

It was around 5 in the morning the next day, and Elizabeth paced the girls dormitory as quietly as she could. Remus's transformation should have finished by now and she should have been able to hear him open the common room door. Her worried thoughts consumed her, so she decided to go to the boy's dorm room.

She discretely walked through the common room and up several flights of stairs before arriving at the well known door. Instead of knocking, she gently opened the door. Remus was not in his bed, and the rest of the boys were sleeping. In need of comfort, she decided to climb into Sirius's bed and curled up next to him.

"Hmmph," Sirius mumbled, wrapping his arm around her tightly. She was too upset to bother thinking about how perfect it felt to lay against his bare chest. Sirius slowly woke up and saw the crying Elizabeth slowly rubbing his arm.

"What's wrong, Lizzy?" He asked her, his eyes fluttering open and closed, eyeing her closely. She sighed, beginning to cry more.

"Lizzy, what's going on?" Sirius didn't want to sit up and disturb her, but he cocked his head forward and waited for her to respond.

"Remus isn't back," She said in a quivering voice. Sirius sighed, unknowing of what to say.

"It was probably a rough transformation. He'll be back soon, it's okay," He kissed the top of her head sweetly and rubbed her arm, attempting to comfort her.

"I hate seeing him like this. I should get used to it - it's been going on for five years, you know? I dunno, it's just so much worse this year. When we can join him it'll be better, but knowing we have to wait for that bloody potion to brew when we're so close is making my head boil," She spoke quietly, rubbing her soaking face with her shirt and burying her face within Sirius's shoulder.

"Shhh, it's okay. Look, his transformation is over by now, he's probably in his human form in the shack. Want to go find him?" Although it was potentially dangerous, they were less than worried that Remus would hurt them - werewolf or not.

Elizabeth contemplated for a moment before nodding, sitting up. Sirius's heart sunk when she moved, wishing she would touch him like that forever, but covered it up and simply began dressing silently to avoid waking up everyone else.

"Okay," Sirius spoke, turning around. He noticed Elizabeth's bare legs pulling on one of Sirius's pairs of sweats before turning around and nodding at him. He loved how she looked in his clothes, and smiled at the thought, before shaking it away and following Elizabeth under the cloak to the Shrieking Shack.

It was cold, and neither of them thought it would be; Sirius decided to cast a warming charm on both of them, in which Elizabeth thanked him profusely. The long walk was spent in silence to the shack, and when they walked in, they noticed how destroyed the place was.

"What a lonely place to transform at," Elizabeth sighed as she pulled off the cloak and began searching for Remus. Sirius folded the cloak up and followed her. Within a matter of minutes, she had managed to find him. He had little clothes on, and was extremely scarred, passed out against the floor.

"Oh my god," Elizabeth said, covering her mouth with her hand. Sirius rubbed the small of her back, but soon she pulled away toward Remus and touched his face. He flinched slightly at her warm hands, and soon his eyes opened.

"Elizabeth? What are you doing here?" He said weakly, soon going into a coughing fit. Elizabeth helped him up and massaged his shoulders, trying to the reduce the sudden coughing.

"You're usually back by now. I got worried," She said, looking into his eyes. Although Sirius knew they were all friends, he felt a slight ping of jealousy at the way she cared for him.

"That was dangerous, you shouldn't be here," Remus spoke sternly, glancing at Sirius, and Elizabeth smiled.

"I know that the transformation only lasts a couple hours. It's almost six. I couldn't just leave you here,"

"Some transformations are worse than others. This was one of those. I'm fine,"

"No you're not!" Elizabeth said roughly, "I feel so bad! I wish I could help you!"

"It's okay," Remus spoke, trying to find another pair of clothes to throw on.

"Hey man, do you need to go to Poppy?" Sirius asked as Remus struggled to stand up.

"Probably," He spoke sadly.

"We'll take you there," She spoke, smiling through her the tears brimming her eyes.

"You really shouldn't have come here," Remus said after he was dressed, glaring at Sirius, an indication that Sirius shouldn't have suggested her to come.

"Sorry, mate. She's been hysterical," Sirius shrugged, grabbing Remus as he helped him walk through the shack and back to the school.

"Why is she suddenly so sensitive?" Remus asked in a whisper to Sirius, making sure Elizabeth didn't hear.

"Period?" Sirius spoke, gesturing for Elizabeth to come forward and to help Remus, as he laughed.

The trio walked to the castle in silence, and Elizabeth and Sirius left Remus in front of the hospital wing to be taken care of. By now it was close to 6:30, and students were beginning to wake up and walk through the hallways.

"Let's go back. We gotta go to class," Elizabeth said, yawning through her words.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Sirius questioned her as they walked back, and she shook her head.

"Too worried," She sighed - for what seemed like the hundredth time - and Sirius mimicked her.

"You can't do anything. Worrying won't help. You need your sleep," Sirius looked at her seriously as she shrugged, knowing he was right.

"This was just probably the worst transformation I've seen him go through. I get worried about him. He's family," She spoke as they walked up a set of stairs. Sirius didn't respond, and they walked into the common room, going their separate ways to get ready for the busy school day ahead.

"Go to bed," Peter instructed Elizabeth as they played wizard's chess later that evening. Her constant yawning was indicating how badly she needed sleep, but she simply shook her head.

"Finish... game... gotta... win..." She said through yawns and weepy eyes, causing the three boys to glance at each other.

"Sirius take her up," James said, gesturing at him. Sirius stood up, grabbing Elizabeth's hand, who was too tired to argue.

Sirius performed the counter charm for the curse placed on the stairs, and he walked up carefully, helping Elizabeth. As soon as they reached the room, Sirius opened the door for her and helped her change into her nightgown and get into bed. While he knew he shouldn't be, he noticed how toned her body was - something he had never really bothered to look at before. He shook his head, ridding himself of his sinful thoughts, and tucked Elizabeth in.

"Sleep well, princess," Sirius spoke in an oddly genuine tone, kissing her on the forehead. Elizabeth smiled and closed her eyes, feeling content.

"Good night, Sirius," She spoke as he walked out.

"Good night, Liz,"

How much longer can I keep this up? Sirius contemplated as he walked down the stairs and back to his friends, who had moved on with another game of chess. Sirius wasn't sure what had happened but somehow... he was beginning to love his adorable long-time friend. Fuck.


	7. Most Wanted

AN: This is gonna be the last chapter I post here until my HPFF account is all up to date! Plus, the next couple chapters I have written out need quite a bit of editing, so that'll take awhile anyways. But I have a couple other one shots in the cooker, so maybe I'll be able to get those up!

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present].

"Alright, boys. I checked the potion. It's all ready to go. So who's ready to shoot up like a druggie?" Elizabeth smirked at her friends, holding the needle toward the ceiling. It had been two weeks and finally the animagi transforming potion was ready. The boys within the dorm room were excited, but afraid of trusting Elizabeth to put an extremely large needle into their arm to inject this potion.

When Elizabeth was acknowledged with silence, she sighed and gestured toward Peter.

"You first," She spoke sternly, and Peter timidly walked toward the girl. She sat him down and elevated his arm on a desk she had conjured. With a blood band, she instructed him to make a fist, tied the band around him, and searched for a vein.

"Got one!" She said excitedly. She grabbed one of the potion filled viles - set for his height and weight - and placed it on top of the needle.

"Are you ready?" She asked him, and he glanced at his friends, who nodded at him. So Peter, afraid as ever, nodded toward Elizabeth.

"You guys are a bunch of pussies," Elizabeth mumbled as she gently poked through Peter's skin and injected the potion into his arm within a couple of seconds.

"Relax," She said to him, seeing Peter was still holding his fist. He did as told, and began to feel an odd cooling sensation within his veins. Elizabeth quickly untied the blue band, placed a Beatles bandaid on the crook of his arm, and instructed him to walk around for thirty seconds and then go lay down.

However, Peter wasn't able to walk around for thirty seconds before suddenly he began changing and his clothes fell off. As he disappeared, everyone looked at each other, wondering what Peter became. Suddenly, a small - and oddly cute - rat came out from under the clothes, looking curiously around him. Elizabeth smirked.

"Success! Now, Peter, think that you want to change back to human form," He did as she said, and suddenly, with his clothes on, he was standing before them.

"That is awesome!" James said excitedly, "Me next!"

"Oh now you aren't so afraid of needles..." Elizabeth mumbled as she set James up. As she began prepping him, Peter talked excitedly about his brief moment as a rat.

"It was so cool! And I looked at myself and I wasn't really Peter anymore and..." He continued on and on like that for sometime, eventually boring the rest of them. He didn't stop talking until as James was walking around, he suddenly changed into a stag with gorgeous brown, shaggy hair.

"Alright, that's pretty awesome," Elizabeth whispered, smiling at her friend's animal form.

"Sirius?" Elizabeth asked him as James pounced around the room, obviously amazed and incredibly excited.

Although Sirius was excited to figure out what his animagus form would be and finally have more power than anyone in the school, he eyed the needle and began to tense up. He walked over to Elizabeth and sat down, but was obviously more nervous than anyone had ever seen him.

While the other boys were distracted, no one noticed. Elizabeth smiled kindly at her friend, "It'll be okay. It'll be over in a couple of seconds. I think the anticipation is worse than the actual needle,"

Sirius nodded, his eyes drifting toward James in his stag form and smiled as he watched the rat and the stag chase each other.

Sirius felt the cotton swab rub alcohol on his arm, and he took a deep breath, wondering what will calm him down. As Elizabeth tied the blue band around his rather large bicep, he gazed longingly at her.

"Make a fist," She said, and he realized her voice was incredibly soothing. He made a fist as she said, and after Elizabeth found a vein, she smiled consolingly up at her friend.

"Are you ready?" She asked, connecting the vile and the needle.

Sirius started into her eyes and felt oddly calm, then nodded. Elizabeth smiled again and quickly poked him with the needle. In a matter of seconds, it was over, and Sirius didn't even know she had put the needle in.

"There, all done," She said as she put the bandage on. Sirius stood up, smiled at Elizabeth, and waited to transform. Suddenly, he felt a tugging sensation and was now several feet shorter. He looked down, and noticed he had paws.

"A dog. Why am I not surprised?" Remus said from across the room, laughing. Elizabeth nodded in agreement, and Sirius took the time to look at Elizabeth without concern that she would notice. He wanted to be with her... but she was a friend, and he supposed that wasn't a boundary that should be crossed.

"Alright, my turn!" Elizabeth was eager to figure out what she would be. She began prepping herself, but soon realized she wouldn't be able to pin point the vein as successfully as someone else could. She looked up at Remus.

"Remus," She began, "can you do it?"

Remus seemed shocked, but simply nodded, knowing he could handle it. It wasn't soon until Elizabeth transformed into a beautiful, red colored fox - surprising everyone, who thought she would become a cat.

As the three 'animals' played within the room, testing out their abilities, they soon decided to transform back to their human form. As they stood there, breathing heavily, it was Remus who broke the silence.

"Whoa," This breathless comment caused everyone to laugh, and they all were happy to finally be able to achieve such an incredibly challenging thing.

"That was pretty awesome," Elizabeth said, receiving nods in response.

"I cannot WAIT to try this out!" James said, high fiving Peter, causing Elizabeth to simply shake her head and laugh, glad to have such great friends.

Elizabeth was exhausted the next morning: the boys had wanted to test out their animagus forms and they seemed to be running around the boy's dormitory, destroying their furniture the entire night. Elizabeth was about ready to completely pass out during her Advanced Charms class - but the only thing keeping her awake was Sirius's continuous chatter.

"This class is so boring. What is Wicky on about?" Sirius said, sighing deeply. Elizabeth laughed at Sirius's nickname for Flitwick before responding.

"Not really sure, but I'm too tired to care," Elizabeth said before yawning.

"Sorry that we kept you up all night," Sirius said sheepishly.

"You're not really sorry,"

"You're right, I'm not," Sirius said before laughing loudly.

"Excuse me, Mr. Black, would you care to share something with us?" Professor Flitwick ceased his lecture to ask Sirius a question. Elizabeth attempted to stifle a laugh and Sirius shot her a glare.

"No, professor, I was simply admiring how shiny and silky your hair is today, until Elizabeth decided to say that she felt it was greasy and how she felt like she wanted to vomit when she looked at it," Sirius smirked and Elizabeth's jaw dropped, shocked at Sirius's rude remark.

Before Elizabeth had time to make a snarky comment to Sirius, Professor Flitwick interrupted, "Ah, Black, I seriously doubt your story, so... just be quiet."

He continued on with the lesson and Elizabeth sat cross armed, attempting to pay attention through her yawns and undeniably determined to ignore Sirius.

"Ah, come on, Lizzy, you can't ignore me! You love me!" Sirius said, poking her in the side. She shook her head, swatting her hand away.

"Nope, never loved you, never will!" Sirius faked shock and dramatically put his hand over his chest.

"Ouch, Lizzy. Serious pain right there. Hey, do you wanna go to Hogsmede after this? I'm seriously craving some treacle fudge, and you know that Honeydukes has the best," Sirius said, tilting his head slightly at her. Elizabeth laughed in her head at how adorable it was whenever he did that.

"We have Dark Arts next, Sirius," Elizabeth said, pulling out her pencil to take notes on the homework Flitwick was writing on the board.

"Ah come on, Liz, take a ride on the wild side!" Elizabeth snorted as he continued, "professor Turri won't care. You can just make up some bogus story about how you were feeling sick and went to the dormitory. As for me, I'll just get her with my charm,"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes - right as the bell rang - and began packing up her stuff, "Alright, let's go. As long as you're paying,"

"Of course, darling,"

Sirius and Elizabeth waited for several minutes until the corridor near the Defense Against the Dark Arts staircase was clear (not wanting to get caught by the professor), in which Elizabeth could then pull the Marauder's Map out of her bag. As she scanned the map to see if any intruders were in her way to the passage beneath the one-eyed witch statue, Sirius began talking.

"Is that finished yet?" He asked as Elizabeth looked both ways - an extra pro-caution, as she liked to justify herself.

"Honestly, I haven't had much time to work on it between classes and working on that potion. I know that Remus took it for awhile and I think he said he got all the kinks worked out, but honestly I'm not sure. Come on, let's get going, Turri is on her way here and she'll yell at me if she thinks I'm ditching class," Elizabeth grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the statue. She tapped it with her want before speaking the incantation 'dissendium' to allow the statue to open and reveal a short slide.

"We should really build some stairs for this, I hate the stupid slide," Sirius groaned as Elizabeth prepared herself to sneak down.

"Oh stop being such a baby," She said as she jumped into the slide. Once she hit the ground with a loud thud, she could hear Sirius jumping down the slide and quickly moved out of the way. As she dusted herself off several feet away, Sirius came down and stood next to her.

"Bite me. Now, let's go. If we hurry we can beat the route in a half hour," Sirius said, starting off down the tunnel. The candles amongst the wall provided a romantic dim light, and Sirius contemplated just how romantic it was.

"I doubt it, it usually takes us at least 45 minutes," Elizabeth said, stepping in stride with her friend.

"That's because we always have Peter with us. Him and his short legs have a hard time keeping up, so we have to slow down,"

"Peter's my height, Sirius," Elizabeth remarked, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, but you're a beater. Therefore you can walk faster. See?" Sirius said, shoving his friend lightly, who simply laughed in response.

"Whatever you say. Have you done your Transfiguration homework?"

"Why is it always school, school, school with you?"

"I suppose I have no life," She shrugged jokingly, and Sirius chuckled at her.

"No, I haven't done it yet. Who cares? Minnie will fail me anyways," Sirius ran his hand through his hair.

"She's never failed you,"

"She's contemplated it,"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and changed the subject, "So James told me when you guys went out to do that Hufflepuff prank you ran into another stalker,"

Sirius groaned loudly, "Yeah, it was incredibly obnoxious. She's a fucking third year - a third year! - and is completely in love with me. She doodles my name on her notebook and then shows them to me. It's starting to freak me out,"

"Not liking the attention anymore? The man-whore is finally tired of being a man whore?"

"Not likely," Sirius said, but knowing to himself it wasn't true. As time passed, Sirius felt closer and closer to Elizabeth and desperately wanted to drop his 'man-whore' status so he could commit to her. He knew it was a silly thought, but he couldn't help but dream.

"Of course not, you and your... ah, shit!" Elizabeth swore right before she hit the ground. While she was walking, she tripped over a stray rock from the tunnel's walls and began falling straight to the ground. It seemed like the moment where a pair of strong arms would grasp around her and save her... but of course, that wouldn't happen. She fell into the dirt and groaned loudly.

"Are you okay?" Sirius said, going down to the ground to help her. Elizabeth rubbed her head.

"It's not smart of me to fall head first into the ground," She chuckled before trying to get up, Sirius helped her sit up, wanting her to take it slow.

"Don't stand up too quickly," Sirius said, looking into her eyes.

The two stayed silent, and soon their lips just seemed to glide toward each other. Unlike last time, the sweetness wasn't the major emotion within their kiss: there was an undeniable urgency that overwhelmed them. Elizabeth gasped at the amount of emotion she felt radiating off his body as Sirius twisted her legs around his waist and lifted her up, pressing her against the wall. Soon he broke away the kiss, slowly sending his lips down her neck.

Neither cared what was happening, neither considered the fact they were best friends. All they knew was at the moment was that they needed each other.

"Sirius," Elizabeth said after several minutes of intense kissing. Sirius looked at her with an adoration she had rarely seen in his eyes. The unspoken question was evident in the air.

"We're friends, Sirius. Best friends. And suddenly we're kissing," Elizabeth sighed, pulling herself away from the piano and pacing around the room unknowingly.

Sirius wanted to tell her so many things. He wanted to express his heart, but he was concerned that she might feel overwhelmed. So, he toned it down a bit.

"Yes, Elizabeth, we're friends. Best friends. But you know what? I don't care. Ever since that kiss in that classroom... what classroom was that anyways? Oh, yeah, right" Sirius got back on track when Elizabeth gave him a glare, "everything may have seemed the same, but it wasn't. Getting you out of my thoughts has become more and more difficult every day. You are beautiful, Elizabeth Evans. I am a man who swears not to fall in love, who swears not to committed. I swear that love is evil and nothing will ever stand in the way of me being... me. Yet you, who's been in my life for five years, you have the ability to tear away that. With you, I feel like... I feel like I'm complete. And then you leave and suddenly your presence is enveloped around my thoughts, and I can't focus. I don't really know what happened... but I think I need you," Sirius spoke in an unusual tone, one Elizabeth did not recognize. It was a mixture of utter admiration and absolute desperation.

It was several moments before she chose to respond, "You're the most wanted boy in school, Sirius,"

"I know," Sirius told her, taking several paces toward her, "but the only person I want is you."

Elizabeth looked up in his eyes, doubtful, but as soon as those grey swirls met her green ones, she felt within her heart he wasn't lying.

"Bloody hell, what have we gotten ourselves into?" She asked, stepping toward him and brushing a stray piece of hair out of his face.

"I don't know," He spoke in a whisper. Elizabeth chose not to think about it, and kissed him: and this time, there was not urgency or sweetness. It was simply... devotion. Complete and utter devotion to one another.


	8. Food Fights and Detentions

"I don't understand. What does a Hypogriff have anything to do with this argument? Well, whatever: dragons are cooler," Elizabeth said, slamming her hand against the table and laughing at her friend before eating a bite of cereal.

"No, Elizabeth. I would definitely rather fly a massive chimpanzee," James told her, glaring deeply.

"Like a flying gorilla?" Remus said, chuckling at his friend. James sent a glare over at him, but chose not to respond.

As the two argued, Remus noticed Sirius's absence. However, as soon as he noticed, Sirius came strutting in - looking exceptionally tired - and sat down next to Elizabeth in his usual seat.

"Morning, Pad. You look like shit," James broke away from his argument to talk to his friend, who shrugged.

"Didn't get a lot of sleep," He yawned and then tried to find where all of the toast was. It was true: he didn't get a lot of sleep. His thoughts were completely consumed with Elizabeth and he spent the night roaming around the castle under James's invisibility cloak, wondering what he was gonna do about her.

"Here," Elizabeth handed the plate of toast over to her friend, as if reading his mind, and he gratefully accepted. The two were able to act as if nothing had changed.

"Aww, cute. Okay, anyway, the thing about chimps is that they're cuddly. And awesome. And can hang by their tails. I mean, come on! Chimps!" James continued, smirking at Elizabeth. Sirius raised an eyebrow and glanced at Remus, confused at what they were talking about. Remus shook his head in response.

"James, you're fucking crazy. A dragon, a fire breathing dragon, could kill you! That's epic power right there," Elizabeth said loudly, taking a bite of her toast. James sighed, shaking his head.

"Elizabeth, you're a girl. So you're automatically wrong," Elizabeth sent a full-hearted glare toward James, picked up the closest plate of food - which happened to be eggs - and chucked it at James.

At the shocked look on James face, Remus, Sirius, and Elizabeth burst into laughter. But of course, Elizabeth soon felt like James when a plate of pancakes lands on her face.

Syrup dripping over her head, Elizabeth began a food fight with James. And Sirius, of course unable to help himself, joined in. Within a matter of minutes, all five of the Marauders - including Peter, who walked in shortly after it began - were throwing food avidly at each other.

"Excuse me!" A booming voice was suddenly heard, and Elizabeth turned around. She smiled at the intruder.

"Hello, Professor," Elizabeth smiled at her transfiguration teacher, running her buttered hands through soggy hair. She wanted to laugh, but figured she would get in more trouble.

"This is absolutely unacceptable. From all of you. Detention tonight at 7:30. For all five of you. I am incredibly disappointed, and if you don't show up, you will all receive a lot more detentions then you have bargained for!" Professor McGonagall had her lips in a tight line and looked furious. No one wanted to respond, but it happened to be James who ended up talking first.

"Yes, professor," James said sheepishly, flashing a smile toward his professor. This only caused her to intensify her glare.

"Now all five of you go take a shower! And try not to drip food all over the castle!" She said, and as she began to spin to walk away from the group, Sirius spoke up.

"Together, professor?" Elizabeth started cracking up to this remark, unable to help herself. Their professor turned around with an intimidating look.

"Two detentions for you two, Black and Evans. Ridiculous," She muttered, and as soon as she was out of The Great Hall, the group turned to each other and laughed hysterically.

"That... was... fantastic..." Remus said, his hand over his belly as he tried to calm himself down. Everyone nodded in response.

"Okay, shower time. I am not going to History of Magic like this," Elizabeth said, swinging her hair and spraying a couple third years with various types of foods.

"Sorry!" Elizabeth said genuinely, but then began to laugh again. She shook her head lightly as she walked out of The Great Hall with her friends, all leaving a trail of syrup behind them.

The day passed by with little enthusiasm by Marauder standards. Everyone who could be considered a 'somebody' was talking about the epic food fight this morning, and it seemed that their popularity went up a couple notches.

When the clock hit 7:20, the boys and Elizabeth slowly walked over to the professor's office, knocking three times before hearing a "come in". And when they walked in, she still seemed unhappy.

"Good evening. I'm glad to see none of you are still covered in food," She nodded, and Elizabeth smiled internally at her attempted joke, "but anyways, you will be separated. I know how the five of you get, so it will be three and two. Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew: you all will be working in here. Scrubbing the floors. If you get done before 9 o'clock, we will be going to The Great Hall and working there until curfew."

James, Remus, and Peter all groaned loudly, but McGonagall simply ignored them and continued, "As for you, Evans and Black, you will be cleaning out the girl's bathroom. Just the floors, but if you finish before 9, be prepared to do the toilets. Am I understood?"

Elizabeth and Sirius exchanged a disgusted glance, but nodded along with the rest of the group. It was then McGonagall nodded and the two took that as their cue to grab the buckets of cleaning supplies and head over to the girl's lavatory.

It was a short walk, and when they got there, they sighed heavily.

"Fucking crazy woman. Why in the hell would I want to clean a bathroom?" Elizabeth said, ripping off her vest and getting on the floor, ready to scrub.

"She hates us all. At least we're not being watched like James and the lot," Sirius said, he too leaning over the floor and washing the tiles.

Elizabeth nodded, obviously grateful, "True. You know, we could probably use magic and just do this quickly,"

"She has a spell she uses to check if we've done magic, 'member?" Sirius glanced at his friend, giving her a look. Elizabeth sighed melodramatically.

"Stupid cow," She muttered, getting to work.

By 8:30, with diligent work by the two friends, not only had they cleaned the floors, but they had cleaned the toilets as well. They weren't really sure how they had gotten so much done in only an hour, but figured it was because they hadn't been messing around for once.

"Should we tell her we're done?" Elizabeth questioned, throwing her sponge in a blue bucket and scanning the sparkling bathroom.

"Definitely not. Then we'll have to go clean more. I say we sit here, and not do anything until 9," Sirius said, slumping himself against a bare wall. Elizabeth joined him within a matter of moments.

"I wonder how the boys are doing," Elizabeth chuckled at the thought of McGonagall yelling at them for not cleaning well enough.

"Murder. McGonagall is the worst," Sirius said, shaking his head sadly.

"Oh, I dunno. Professor Binns is pretty bad," Elizabeth had a flashback to her third year when she and James received detention for passing notes during class about 'Binn's boring lessons'.

"Guess it's a tie. Slughorn is definitely the best, though," Sirius smiled at Elizabeth, who nodded.

"Definitely. And he always feeds us and tells us crazy stories. We never get anything done. It's great!"

"Pretty much," Sirius sighed and closed his eyes, relaxing. He was exhausted from the night before and all of the vigorous cleaning, and was ready to fall asleep.

A silence washed over them, and soon Sirius opened his eyes, catching Elizabeth gazing at him. She smiled, and he copied her, and they just stared at each other.

"Did I tell you that Lindsey Wolf stalked me today?" Elizabeth spoke, adverting her gaze. Sirius shook his head unknowingly.

"Yeah, she friggen' cornered me on the way to the common room during my free period. Was all harassing me about how she wanted you and for me to help her. It was fricken' hysterical," Elizabeth laughed, and Sirius smiled. He always loved her laugh.

"Too bad for Wolf, but I don't like her," He said, his eyes sparkling. Elizabeth nodded.

"I know. Plus, she looks like... well, I'm not gonna say what I'm thinking, but let's just say it's not kind,"

Sirius chuckled at Elizabeth, glanced downward, then back up to her eyes. He shifted his body to face her, and placed his hand upon her cheek. Her skin felt hot, and Sirius enjoyed the soft touch. He leaned forward and kissed her gently, their lips moving in perfect motion and their tongues grazing against eachother.

When the two pulled away moments later, Elizabeth smiled, but it quickly faded. She sighed, and pulled back completely before speaking, "Sirius, what exactly are we doing?"

"Something that Lily might cut my balls off for," Elizabeth laughed at his joke, but was soon serious again.

"No, really. What is this?"

"We've already discussed this, Elizabeth,"

"Tell me again," Elizabeth said, grasping his hand.

Sirius contemplated for a moment, rubbing her soft skin with his thumb before responding, "We've been friends for four years, Elizabeth. You've always been the closest person to me."

Elizabeth nodded nonchalantly, waiting for him to continue.

"And I think that now... now our closeness has gone to another level. Not sure how it happened, but I think you and I just..." Sirius trailed off, not sure how to finish his sentence; but he didn't have to.

"It could ruin our friendship," Elizabeth spoke quietly, twittering with her fingers.

"No, it won't. As long as we broke up and it wasn't like, cheating or something awful, we would always be friends. No matter what," Sirius smiled brightly at Elizabeth, who seemed unsure. He continued, "what are you so afraid of?"

"Losing you," She whispered, glancing at him before back down at the floor.

"You can't lose something you never had," Sirius smirked, receiving a hit from his friend, "but really, you won't lose me. Don't you trust me?"

A stillness barricaded the room, but Elizabeth eventually responded, "Always."

When the clock hit 9 o'clock, Elizabeth and Sirius untangled their hands from one another and picked up the buckets of soapy water. They quickly headed back to Professor McGonagall's office and saw James, Remus, and Peter all putting the buckets and whatnot into the storage closet. Elizabeth and Sirius copied suit, and as the Marauders began to walk out, the professor stopped them.

"Black, Evans. Be here at 7:30 tomorrow evening," The professor spoke, and the two teenagers nodded their heads. She dismissed them, and they all began walking to back to the common room.

The sun was shining and a light breeze was floating over Hogwarts. Although it was slightly chilly, many of the students took this rare chance of sunshine to spend outside during the day. Students were skipping stones across The Black Lake, flirting with each other, and doing homework.

The Marauders, however, weren't doing anything of that sort. They sat under their favorite tree - about 20 yards away from the lake - all laying in the grass on top of each other.

"Prongs, your heavy as fuck. Get off of me," Remus groaned, pushing him and the rest of the Marauders onto the ground. They all moaned as they hit the grass, rubbing various body parts.

"That was possibly the stupidest thing we've done all year. Why did we do that, again?" Elizabeth questioned, massaging her sore ankle.

"I do believe Remus called you stupid or impaired or made fun of you of some sort. So, we attacked," James laughed and Elizabeth nodded in remembrance.

"That's right! Okay, got it," Elizabeth chuckled lightly as she laid her head against the ground, staring up at the clouds.

"Oh, look who just arrived," James said loudly, who was currently leaning against a tree. The other Marauders cocked their heads up and immediately spotted a fiery red-head next to a raven-haired boy.

"Are you referring to my sister or Sev?" Elizabeth questioned, eyeing the two. They were laughing about something: and it was rare that you ever saw Severus Snape smiling.

"Both. Come on, guys, let's go say hello," James smirked standing up, and Sirius was soon behind him, the two stalking over to Lily and Severus.

"Come on guys, can't you just leave them be?" Elizabeth sighed heavily, soon following them, along with Remus and Peter. Elizabeth was as close to the guys as anyone could be, always joining in on pranks and rule breaking adventures. However, seeing as Elizabeth grew up with Severus - who had been nothing but kind to her - she never participated in their torturous scandals. Although she scolded and begged them to stop, Severus began hating her soon into their first year because she was such close friends with the boys who made his life miserable.

"Hey, Snivellus! Whatcha doing with the pretty girl?" James said confidentially as soon as he was a couple feet behind them. Lily sent a glare toward the boys.

"Go away, Potter. You too, Black," She said, trying to drag Severus away from the crowd. By now, Elizabeth was next to the boys, nervously eyeing the four.

"Oh come on, Lily, we're just having a little fun. Right Sev, a little fun?" Sirius smirked a little bit, shoving his friend as the two laughed. Severus stayed silent, not wanting to agitate them.

"Didn't your mother teach you it was rude not to respond? Maybe we should teach you manners?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at James and the two quickly pulled out their wands. As they readied to send spells toward the boy, Elizabeth intervened and shoved their wands down.

"Stop it! Just, leave him be," She said desperately, but James gently pushed her away.

"Oh, it's fine, Lizzy. We're just teaching him a lesson he needs to learn. Tarantallegra," Sirius said powerfully, and Severus suddenly began moving his legs wildly. He glanced down, obviously upset, and the two boys were laughing hysterically.

"Dammit, Sirius! Finite Incantatem," Elizabeth swore, and Severus's legs stopped moving. Before Elizabeth could turn around and beginning cursing out her friends, Severus finally spoke.

"You filthy mudblood! I don't need your help," He sneered at her. Elizabeth's eyes bulged and didn't respond, too shocked to say anything.

"Severus!" Lily said, dropping her jaw and covering her mouth. Severus glanced at Lily but said nothing, returning a glare at Elizabeth

"Shut your mouth, Severus! Excelsiosempra," James said loudly, and Severus floated several feet above the air.

"James!" Elizabeth said, touching his arm, begging him to stop. He ignored her, and continued on. With a simple flick of his wand, Severus was hanging upside down.

"Aguamenti," James said, fury burning in his eyes, and Severus soon became soaked. A crowd had by now formed around the group, and everyone was laughing at the pathetic figure hovered in the air.

"James! Accio," Elizabeth yelled, and Snape hit the ground forcefully, "Sausums,"

Severus was now dry and still furious, "I can defend myself! Mudbloods, trying to get in the way of everything!"

Elizabeth and Lily glanced at one another, hurt resonating in both of their eyes. There was an eerie silence over the crowd, yet everyone knew that Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James were fuming beyond belief.

"Severus, I swear to God, if you ever-" Remus, speaking for the first time, began ripping into Severus, only to be interrupted by Elizabeth.

"Remus, it's not even worth it. Come on, guys," She tugged on Remus's shirt, who reluctantly followed her out of the crowd. Soon the rest of the Marauders were at her tail, and when they walked into the castle, the boys immediately began discussing the previous events.

"I cannot believe that-"

"He is a slimy little-"

"Let's get the map and go cut his-"

"If he ever-"

"Guys!" Elizabeth stopped in her tracks, turning and facing the group, "it's okay. He's angry and bitter. Don't take it personally,"

"Well, I say we show that little git what he has coming to him," Sirius said, smiling widely.

"I agree, Padfoot," James nodded, and they smirked at each other. Elizabeth sighed as a silence overtook them, and didn't bother to deny the boys of what they loved the most in life: pranks.


	9. The Crystal Ball

If there was anything Elizabeth hated, it was detentions. She found it oddly ironic that she got so many considering that she despised them - her and James were tied at the most amount of detentions, right at about 168.

And if there's anything she hated more than detention itself, it was detention with McGonagall.

"Here's another stack of transfiguration novels. Organize and dust them off, then place them on the shelves. Understood?" Professor McGonagall looked like a really angry bird to Elizabeth: she never seemed to be smiling and was way to strict. Elizabeth glanced at the clock. 8:45. 15 more minutes. She didn't know if she would survive.

"Yes, professor," Elizabeth sighed heavily and pulled out the first book, iTransfiguration at it's Best/i. She had a feeling it would be harder than she thought to organize the books if they all began with "transfiguration".

As she mindlessly put the books in alphabetical order, she wondered what Sirius was stuck doing. McGonagall decided she didn't want to have to watch both of them, so she sent Sirius off for his first detention with Binns: Elizabeth laughed internally at the idea. She had become well accustomed to Binns's detentions, but Sirius might possibly die during his first one.

Her thoughts lingered over Sirius. Her mind was clouded with images of his hands running through her hair and his lips upon hers. She sighed, she really didn't know what they were gonna do. Since the detention the night before, they hadn't had any physical contact, but who knows what would happen when they were walking back to the tower. Not only that, but she wondered what this meant for them: would they start dating? How would the rest of the Marauders react? It was all too complicated for her.

In what only felt like a few minutes, Elizabeth was on her way back to the common room from a grueling detention with McGonagall. Her knees were in excruciating pain from scrubbing and organizing and whatnot, and her head was pounding. She really hated detentions.

A loud path of swearing lead her to Sirius, only a corridor or two ahead of her. As she saw him from behind, she laughed as he kicked away objects.

"Told you he was bad," Elizabeth said as she kept walking toward him. Sirius turned around, glaring at her.

"He's beyond bad! He's awful! I am never doing detention with him again!" Elizabeth laughed at his dramatic claim.

"What did he have you do?"

"I wrote lines on the blackboard for the first half hour, then I organized his entire collection of books," Elizabeth snickered, having performed that task before, "and then he made me clean out his desk. His desk! It was bullshit,"

"Sorry, mate. Sounds crappy," Elizabeth and him began walking back toward the tower.

"If I wasn't afraid of getting detention with him again, I would pull a massive prank on him for all of the suffering he made my endure," Elizabeth chuckled at her friend, shaking her head.

"You are so melodramatic, don't you know that?" Sirius turned his head toward her and nodded, a smile creeping on his face.

"I learned from the best," He spoke quietly as he reached for Elizabeth's hand, grasping it in his. He sighed internally at the soft touch, how her hands seemed perfect and how she always smelled like lavender.

Elizabeth smiled when glancing down at her hands, unable to help herself. She chose not to question anything for once in her life: she figured Sirius must be tired of having to explain himself multiple times.

They walked up a flight of stairs in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts. It was ultimately Sirius who broke the silence between the two.

"I suppose I can't ask you to be my girlfriend without a proper date, huh?" Sirius said, and Elizabeth stopped walking for a moment. As Sirius was about to ask her if she was okay, she began walking once more at her usual pace.

"I suppose so, but we're not even half way through September. Our first Hogsmeade trip won't be until October at least," Elizabeth felt sad at the prospect, knowing from all of the girls at school what dates with Sirius were like. Incredible, they would brag. How he would bring them flowers and take them to robe shops and buy them beautiful clothes. Sirius had the money to do that, and despite what everyone thought, he only bought girl's things if he truly liked them. Elizabeth remembered always feeling slightly jealous at those girls who were able to kiss Sirius and have those warm embraces with him, but she continually pushed those feelings aside.

"Doesn't mean I can't still give you a date," Sirius said, squeezing Elizabeth's hand slightly and rubbering her knuckle absentmindedly with his thumb.

"What do you have in mind?" Elizabeth asked, raising an eyebrow. Sirius smiled widely at her.

"Tomorrow night, meet me at the astronomy tower. At around 8 o'clock,"

"Won't Sinistra be teaching a class?" Elizabeth remembered when she took astronomy last year: she vowed to never do that again. The lack of sleep she suffered from while taking that class was more than she could bare.

"Not if there's an unexpected, unexplained set of dung beetle bombs outside the tower," Sirius smirked at his friend, who shook her head.

"8 o'clock it is," She smiled at realized they were almost at the Gryffindor tower. She made the decision to unlock her hand from his, to which Sirius felt a slight pang of sadness when being separated from her touch.

The two walked into the tower silently and were automatically bombarded by the sounds of avid Gryffindors discussing homework, boys, and games of Wizard's Chess. They allowed their eyes to search the common room for their friends, and when unable to find them, they made the decision to go up into their dorm room.

"How was detention?" James asked immediately once Elizabeth and Sirius walked in. Sirius groaned loudly and plopped down on his bed while Elizabeth evaluated the scene. The three boys were on the floor, playing a game of muggle cards - she figured Remus must have taught them - and dressed in pajamas, except for James, who remained shirtless and in his boxer shorts.

"Fucking awful. I hate Binns," Sirius said, shoving a pillow over his head to groan even louder. Elizabeth laughed quietly.

"You got stuck with Binns? Murder. Sorry, mate. Elizabeth?" James glanced at her, and she shrugged.

"You know how much I hate Minnie, but it wasn't as bad as it usually is. Don't really know why, maybe she finally found a boyfriend?" Elizabeth sat down Indian style next to her friends and checked out Peter's cards, "you have a really shitty hand, Wormtail."

"I know, shut up. I suck at this game," Peter said sadly as he slammed the cards down.

"Cheer up, mate. Maybe you'll win the next round!" James said and Remus involuntarily began laughing, causing him to put his hand over his mouth to stop himself.

"How many rounds have you played?" Elizabeth questioned, glancing at her friends.

"I want to say twelve, but I can't be sure," Remus shrugged and placed a card down.

"Who's been winning?"

"Kind of a tie between James and I,"

"Aww, poor Pete, hasn't won a single round," Elizabeth shoved her friend slightly, who shoved her back, glaring.

"Screw this, I'm going out," Peter spoke and stood up, beginning to walk out of the room. Elizabeth laughed at her friend and yelled out an apology, but he ignored it and closed the door, going off to God-knows-where.

"He's so emotional," Sirius spoke from the bed, and his friends nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes I wonder what's going on in that boy's mind," Elizabeth spoke, laying down on the floor.

"Broaden your minds!" Sybil Trelawney hovered over Remus, Sirius, and Elizabeth in the middle of the Divination classroom, peering at their crystal ball. The classroom in which they sat was circular and oddly peculiar: more so than any other professor's classroom. The walls were mostly empty, but there were several marks and posters of quotes about divination. The floors creaked when you stepped upon them and dust covered several orifices of the classroom that clearly hadn't been touched in years. Elizabeth had always thought it was a nicer version of Azkaban.

"I don't see anything," Sirius whispered to Remus as he moved closer to the crystal ball in the middle of the table, scrunching his eyes up to see if he was missing something. He noticed out of his peripheral vision that Remus shrugged in confusion.

"Elizabeth? Wanna try?" Remus glanced at Elizabeth, who sighed dramatically and spun the ball around, staring into it. As she tried to clear her mind and focus - she really couldn't have another bad grade in this class (if an exceeds expectations is considered bad) - to see if she could pick up on anything. Suddenly, several figures appeared in the crystal ball. She could only see them from behind, and it was obvious they were hooded in dark cloaks. She could see a house in front of them, and an odd figure of a snake hanging above it in the clouds. Elizabeth raised her eyebrow, blinked, and when she opened her eyes, it was gone.

"I don't see anything," Elizabeth lied, pushing the ball back to her friends. They looked at her suspiciously, but simply shrugged and continued bickering with the ball. Elizabeth slumped against her chair and thought about what she saw: what could it possibly mean?

Before anyone knew it - or in reality, it hadn't come soon enough - the class was over and the three friends were packing their bags and strutting down the spiraling staircase to go to their next class, where all the Marauders would be: Transfiguration.

"Honestly, I'm really dreading Transfiguration today," Elizabeth spoke as the three walked down a crowded hallway. Elizabeth sighed as a first year ran into her, tripping over their cloak and knocking over someone's books.

"I thought you liked Transfiguration?" Remus glanced at his friend and Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair.

"I do, but today I just don't feel in the mood to learn. Especially after another failing Divination class," Elizabeth slightly lied - which she hated doing - but pushed that thought out of her mind.

"We always fail, it's not a big deal anymore," Sirius joked, pushing into Elizabeth before running down the hall and disappearing into the Transfiguration classroom. Elizabeth laughed as she shook her head.

"Sometimes I wonder if he takes steroids and is just absolutely baked all the time," Elizabeth said and Remus chuckled at her joke, moving away from her as someone pushed through the two of them.

"That's quite possible," Remus spoke as they walked into the room, seeing Peter and James.

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Guess what!" James ran up to Elizabeth and jumped up and down like a three year old. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"First off, why did we give me the nickname "Paws" if we're never gonna use it? Secondly, what?" Elizabeth dropped her heavy book bag onto the desk, which landed with a loud thump, and slid into her seat.

"Sorry, habit. Okay, Paws, you'll never believe it. Josh Woods cornered me in the hallway after class because he decided he's sick and tired of being Quidditch captain, so he wants me to be captain!" James said, jumping again and clapping his hands. A smile broke across Elizabeth's face and she smiled widely.

"Prongs, that's great! I can't believe it! Although I deserve it more than you do considering I made the team as a first year and you didn't until a second year..." Elizabeth trailed off, smirking as James glared, "...but that's okay. That's really awesome, Prongs. You'll do a great job. When are try outs, anyways?"

"Not for a couple weeks, but he wants me to be prepared. This is going to be so awesome!" James finished as soon as Professor McGonagall walked in the room, whisking her hand and causing the door to shut. James sent a wink toward Elizabeth before sitting down in his seat in front of her, ready to listen.

After Transfiguration class - which was filled with little excitement and mostly boredom in the Marauders's opinion - the Marauders decided to skip dinner and head out to the Lake during the warm September air. Elizabeth had told the boys she wanted to grab a jacket and for them to head out without her. With some reluctance they left and Elizabeth searched her dorm room for her wool coat, just in case it wasn't as warm as the boys claimed it was. While she was searching, Lily walked into the room holding a letter.

"Oh, hey Liz. Whatcha looking for?" Lily smiled at her sister and parked herself on her bed, laying down with little sound. Elizabeth sighed melodramatically before answering.

"My wool coat. Have you seen it?" Elizabeth toppled over several pillows and sighed yet again as she was unable to find it.

"Yeah, I think Jade borrowed it," This comment made Elizabeth groan loudly and throw a pillow across the room.

"What is up with that girl and borrowing my shit? Ugh, anyways, is she wearing it now or do you think it's in her pile of insanity?"

"Probably in her pile of insanity," Elizabeth strutted across the room and fished about a pink suitcase, throwing colorful outfits all across the floor.

As Elizabeth hunted for her jacket, Lily spoke quietly, "I got a letter from mum,"

"Oh?" Elizabeth asked as she pulled out a grey coat, "what did she say?"

"Petunia's getting married," Elizabeth froze and after the shock settled, turned around swiftly.

"She's not even out of high school yet!"

"That was my reaction, but what do we know? She's engaged to some guy named Vernon... mum likes him... dad isn't very keen on him, but is shutting up... they're getting married when they get out of school in May,"

"Well, at least it's not Christmas. She'll be eighteen by then, so it should be okay. I guess," Elizabeth said as she shoved Jade's clothes back into her suitcase and shoved it under the bed.

"I agree, but still,"

"Are we invited to the wedding?"

Lily sighed before speaking, "Petunia didn't want us to come but ma convinced her that she didn't have a choice - but neither of us are allowed to be Maid of Honor, that's saved for Emily Spicket. We can be bridesmaids, and I'm not sure if we're invited to the reception yet,"

"Petunia's a real bitch," Elizabeth swore as she put her own clothes away and remade her bed.

"I know. It's been five years, you think she would have grown up by now,"

"Of course not. She holds grudges. Kinda like you," Elizabeth spoke the last part under her breath, but of course Lily heard.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You've hated James for five years. You can't forgive him for anything he's done. It's ridiculous,"

"When he changes, I'll forgive him. Until then he can suck my-" Lily began but was soon interrupted.

"I get the picture, but FYI, I'm sure he'd love to," Elizabeth winked at her sister as she walked out of the room with her coat. She could hear Lily gasp and Elizabeth chuckled as she shut the door behind her and then ran outside.

"What took you so long?" James raised an eyebrow as Elizabeth as she walked across some rocks to get to the boys. Peter and Remus awaited eagerly to hear what did take her so long, but Sirius was too entranced in the way the setting sun reflected off her blond hair and gave an angelic glow to her to really listen to what anyone was saying.

"Petunia's getting married," Elizabeth said as she sat down between James and Peter. Her friends gasped.

"Wow. I can't believe someone like her actually found a boy..." Elizabeth smacked James for his comment, who laughed gingerly.

"When's she getting married?" Remus questioned, leaning against a tree.

"May. I guess she's not going to college, who knows," Elizabeth shrugged and walked a couple feet, took off her shoes, and shyly put her manicured toes in the water. A slight gasp escaped her small mouth as the cold water surrounded her feed, but soon she liked it.

"Are you invited?" Peter squeaked nervously, and Elizabeth smiled kindly at him.

"Yeah, and if I'm invited, you guys are invited, too," Elizabeth said as she stretched, her shirt untucking itself and showing some skin.

"Will Petunia be okay with that?" James asked her.

"Fuck if I know, fuck if I care, but I'm not doing this alone," Elizabeth smiled and looked across the lake. Within seconds, she began stripping off her white dress shirt and tie. Sirius, who had been watching her the entire time, began glancing up and down her stomach, loving the tan skin. Elizabeth then slid off her skirt and left in her undergarments, dived into the Black Lake.

"What are you doing?" James asked, laughing at the wet girl as she bobbed to the surface.

"Taking a swim. It's warm, and that rarely happens at Hogwarts. I'm making the most of it. Why don't you boys come join me?" Elizabeth paddled backward, staring up at the sky. When she didn't hear anyone move, she spoke again, "Are you coming, boys?"

The boys glanced at each other nervously, but Sirius was the first to take the initiative. Unbuttoning his pants and ripping off his dress shirt, he dived into the lake with only his blue boxers on. When he came to the surface, he groaned due to the cold, but once he saw Elizabeth's smile he smiled back and ignored all other feelings.

"Way to be, Sirius!" Elizabeth laughed and pushed some water at him, splashing him in the face. Sirius smiled wider and glanced at his friends, swimming over near the shore.

"Come on, it's not like anyone will care. Unless we get eaten by the Giant Squid..." Sirius winked at his friends and then swam toward Elizabeth, who was wading several feet away.

The three boys on land shared eyes and decided they didn't have a lot to lose. They stripped off their clothes like the two before them and jumped into the pool, causing splashes of water to impound around everyone.

"Holy crap, it is cold," Remus said as he swung his head, letting drops of water spray everyone.

"But it's so nice," Elizabeth smiled and went underneath the surface yet again.

"When was the last time we went swimming?" Peter said reminiscently. His friends shrugged in response as their feet moved underneath the water.

"A couple years ago. Second year, at Elizabeth's pool during the summer," Sirius spoke, remembering the scene like yesterday. The images of hot girls in bikinis tanning on the poolside came up, along with images of water noodles and goggles. He remembered that Elizabeth's hair ended up turning green afterwards and no one knew a spell to fix it, so she had to walk around with lime green hair for two weeks. Sirius chuckled at the thought.

"Yeah, my hair friggen' turned green," Elizabeth said and the boys laughed, remembering too.

"That was so funny. And remember Remus didn't want to go in the water so I grabbed him by the arms and you grabbed him by his feet and we pushed him in the deep end," James spoke, gesturing toward Sirius and Remus. The boys laughed loudly.

"That was great," Sirius sighed, floating on his back and looking at the puffy clouds above them.

The Marauders stayed in the Black Lake until it got dark. They quickly got out of the lake and cast a drying and warming charm, put their clothes back on and began strutting inside.

"Paws," Sirius spoke behind Elizabeth, placing a small hand on her back as she put on her tie.

"Yeah?" She whispered glancing behind her.

"One hour, meet me at the astronomy tower," Sirius flashed a smile at her, and Elizabeth couldn't help but smile back.

"I couldn't forget,"


	10. Dates and Revenge

Elizabeth wasn't one to be afraid of sneaking out of the common room after curfew: hell, she did it her first day at Hogwarts. She wasn't afraid of getting caught, or even getting detention. So she couldn't understand why she was so terrified as she climbed up the stairs of the Astronomy Tower.

Though Elizabeth tried not to think about how scared she was: she tried to focus on her foot steps echoing against the walls. She tried to make sure that she looked okay. She didn't spend a lot of time making herself look presentable considering that Lily was hovering and wondering what she was off to do. She didn't mess with her makeup, considering that it had stayed in place since she put it on that morning. She changed her outfit; a strapless floral dress, a grey cardigan that came with a maroon leather belt, and a cute pair of black heels. She didn't want to see too dressy, not too casual. At first she was worried about being cold, but soon remembered that they knew magic: warming charm. Duh.

Once Elizabeth reached the top of the spiraling staircase, she knocked quietly on the door. She heard a 'come in' and she twisted the door handle, walking in.

The balcony was dark, the only light coming from the stars above and some candles lit across the room, on a table and on the walls. The table in the middle of the room was covered with a white table cloth and had plates of food upon it: turkey, butter beer, other foods that Elizabeth liked. There was a couch that sat farther on the balcony, facing the Black Lake, and it had a cotton blanket folded on top. The scene was truly beautiful.

However, Elizabeth wasn't very interested in the room. She was interested in the man looking at her, standing only a few feet away. He wore a dark pair of jeans and simple sneakers, ones that looked new (although Elizabeth knew they possibly couldn't be). He had a wife beater on with an unbuttoned blue shirt, and Elizabeth couldn't help but think how sexy he looked.

"Why, hello Ms. Evans," Sirius smiled as his hand picked up a single orange rose. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as he glided over, handing the rose to her.

"Isn't the traditional flower a red rose, not an orange one?" Elizabeth glanced at the flower and back up at Sirius's swirling grey eyes.

"Ah, indeed it is. However, orange symbolizes desire. Passion. Romance. I feel it symbolizes my feelings for you better," He handed Elizabeth the rose, who smiled gently and took it, smelling it.

"I like it. It's beautiful. I didn't know you knew so much about roses, Mr. Black," As Sirius grinned back at her - that gorgeous lopsided grin that was highlighted by candle light - Elizabeth realized why girls fell for him so easily.

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know,"

"Ah, except your intelligence only comes from wanting to get in a girl's pants," Elizabeth winked at her friend and he barked his usual dog-like laugh, then extended a hand to the table.

"Want to eat? I'm starved," As his more stern and composed exterior faded, Elizabeth became happier: she just wanted her usual friend.

"Definitely. Since you boys wouldn't let me eat," Elizabeth walked over to the table and sat down, Sirius sitting across from her.

"Surprisingly, I didn't plan that," Sirius spoke as he served his guest portions of vegetables.

"Really? Wow, that's pretty ironic," Elizabeth smiled gratefully before taking a large bite of her green beans, sighing at the taste in her mouth. She always loved vegetables when no one else did, and was glad Sirius remembered.

"It is. Oddly so," Sirius began eating two, and the friends began chatting about random subjects through their furious eating.

It wasn't long until they had finished and the two lay upon the couch, groaning at their full stomaches.

"I hate that the house elves make such great food. I swear, I should be getting so fat from the amount of food I eat," Elizabeth laughed and leaned her head against the arm of the couch. The two had avoiding physical contact all night, and still were, which was causing Sirius to get antsy.

"I know what you mean," Sirius spoke and a silence overtook the two. Finally, Sirius grasped Elizabeth's hand and smiled at her, pulling her toward him so she could lay her head upon his chest and gaze across the Hogwarts grounds.

"Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to be a witch and come here. It's just so beautiful, you know?" Elizabeth spoke quietly, staring at the Forbidden Forest which ruffled as creatures scurried through.

"Sometimes I feel that way, too," Sirius said, glancing at the girl in his arms. He loved the peaceful and happy look she had on her face, the way her smile seemed to linger and never fade.

The two sat in silence, staring across the ground for quite some time, neither really counting the minutes. But soon they realized, as the clock signaled it was 10 o'clock, that they should be heading back.

"Let me just clean this up," Sirius said as they stood up, whipping out his wand and swinging it slightly. As he did so, the artifacts in the room faded out and it looked back like the dreaded classroom Elizabeth never liked.

"Very nice. You should teach me that spell," Elizabeth said and Sirius nodded at her, taking her hand as the two walked out of the tower.

When they got closer to the Gryffindor tower, Elizabeth paused and unhooked her hand from Sirius.

"Do you wanna go in at different times? Then the boys won't know," She said as she stared at Sirius, who contemplated for a moment. He figured they should, but felt a spring of daringness and chose to take the chance.

"Be my girlfriend," Sirius said, hooking his hand through her hair. Elizabeth moved at the touch, closing her eyes and thinking about his question. She wanted to be his girlfriend, but didn't know how everyone would react. But did she care?

After several minutes of patient silence, Elizabeth responded, "Yes,"

Sirius smiled widely and moved toward Elizabeth, kissing her sweetly before pulling back and walking with her to the tower.

When they arrived, it was unnaturally empty. No one was there. The two were somewhat happy at the fact they didn't have to explain anything to anyone tonight, but yet again wanted to just get the subject out of the way.

"Well, I should probably get to sleep," Elizabeth spoke, to which Sirius nodded and pulled her right hand to his lips, gently kissing it.

"Good night, Paws,"

"Good night," Elizabeth beamed and released her hand from his, gliding up the stairs with a type of happiness she had never really experienced. She was ready to commit, and she was more excited than ever.

The boys's dormitory was always incredibly hectic in the morning: which happened to be pretty surprising, considering that they always seemed so laid back all day long. However, the problem lay in the fact that none of the boys - not even Remus - had the ability to wake up on time.

"Dammit, Peter, if you don't get out of the shower right now I'm gonna take your tail and smash it into oblivion!" Sirius pounded on the bathroom door, waiting for Peter to come out. He heard a small squeak and the water being turned off. Sirius counted to five and burst in, finding Peter already have dressed with soaking wet hair. He hopped in the shower while the rest of the boys were busy trying to find socks and shoes.

"Where are my socks? James, did you take my socks again?" Remus worriedly flipped over pillows and sheets, trying to find his only pair of socks.

"I don't think so, are these it?" James walked out from behind his bed and showed Remus his sock covered feet. Yupp, those were it. Remus swore and made James take off the socks, put on some shoes, and ran downstairs.

As he was running, he came to a halt as he smashed into Elizabeth.

"Whoa, Moony, what's the rush about?" Elizabeth stood there, fixing her hair as she eyed Remus. Remus noticed how put together she was, a pretty skirt and shirt, and wondered why she never worried about the time.

"Well, everyone is freaking out up there because we can't find anything. Had to get out of there, and considering that none of us have clocks or watches, I wasn't really sure what time it was," Remus trailed off and awkwardly scratched his shoulder while Elizabeth laughed at them.

"You're all good, I promise. Here, why don't we get breakfast. I could really go for eggs benedict," Elizabeth smiled and linked arms with her friend, the two walking out of the portrait hole and into the busy hallways.

"So how was your night? I didn't see you. Or Sirius for that matter," Remus spoke.

"Oh, yeah, Sirius and I were together," Elizabeth said truthfully, beginning to push past people blocking the hallways.

"What were you to doing?"

"We were up in the astronomy tower,"

"Neither of you take astronomy," Remus eyed Elizabeth carefully and she sighed dramatically, pulling Remus in the opposite direction and into an abandoned classroom.

"Alright, don't tell the boys yet, okay? I think Sirius and I will tell them later on today," Elizabeth said and Remus, confused as ever, nodded in response, "Sirius and I were on a date,"

"Wait, what?" Remus's eyes bulged and he ruffled his hair, now more confused than before.

"Yeah, I guess we decided this year we both like each other. Not really sure how that happened, but whatever. Anyways, we went on a date. And now, we're sort-of, kind-of, well, dating," Elizabeth laughed nervously at the fact she couldn't find the right words, which rarely happened, and Remus eyed her suspiciously.

"This is a surprise, Paws," Remus spoke and leaned against a close wall, closing his eyes.

"I know, I know. Not really sure how all of this happened, who knows if it'll even work out," Elizabeth twittered with her hands and waited for Remus to respond again.

"If you two break up... WHEN you two break up, it'll ruin everything," Remus spoke matter-of-factly.

"Well, that's what I said, but he and I have an agreement that if we break up, as long as it's not cheating or something along the lines of that, we'll just suck it up and be friends. I mean, we've had several snogging events and none of you guys even suspected, right? We're good at fixing things," Remus shook his head in response, astounded that he hadn't known anything about this: that none of them did.

"If he hurts you, I'll kill him," Elizabeth laughed at Remus and hugged him gently.

"Don't worry, me too,"

The Marauders sat in the Ancient Runes classroom, all barely paying attention to Professor Babbling's lecture. Each Marauder was at least two seats away from one another - Professor Babbling had learned early into their first year that if sat together they cause quite the racket. The room was decorated with peculiar posters of symbols that no one seemed to understand.

As Elizabeth allowed her eyes to close for more than a couple seconds, she felt something hit the back of her head. She snapped up, and in the process, managed to fall out of her chair from such shock.

"Evans, is there a problem?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl. The perpetrator who threw the object that hit her - James Potter - was laughing hysterically, attempting to be as quiet as possible. Elizabeth turned her head towards him and shot him a nasty glare before responding to the professor's question.

"No, professor, everything is quite alright. Thought I saw a rat, that's all," She smiled and heard an upset Peter sigh, as well as an amused Remus snicker. She stopped herself from saying something snarky before sitting back in her chair.

"Right, well, anyways, the word 'ehwaz' is a Proto-Germanic word..." The professor began speaking, and Elizabeth allowed herself to tune her out. She searched for the object that hit her, and soon found it on the floor: a scrunched up piece of paper. She picked it up, and slowly unravelled it.

_You can do nonverbal spells, right? _James sloppy handwriting was written at the top of the paper. She glanced at James, before responding.

**You already know the answer to that. Why?** She glanced at the professor, who's back was currently facing away from the students, so she crumbled the paper and threw it back at James, who caught it with surprising ease.

James scribbled something down, chucked the paper at Elizabeth, and she quickly read it.

_Right, stupid question. Okay, say this incantation... err, think it... whatever: corrigo. Then I want you to say 'conexus quattuor_'. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but complied. She placed the paper in her lap, pulled out her wand and thought the incantation 'corrigo'. The paper than proceeded to straighten itself out. She smiled, thought the second incantation, and nothing happened.

**Nothing happened. What do you want from my life?** Elizabeth put her wand away and scribbled away a message. Just as she was about to pass the parchment to James, letters began appearing upon the paper.

See, but something did happen. Elizabeth was now wide-eyed, glancing at James who simply smirked at her. _Remus came up with it. We all got a piece of paper and said the spell that Remus made. It connects all of our papers, so we can talk to each other during class. Wicked, right? Oh, and there's also a spell that if a teacher tries to take it, notes about whatever they were talking about will appear. Remus got tired of getting in trouble for passing notes._

Elizabeth smiled widely before responding, **This is bloody brilliant! Why aren't Moony, Padfoot, or Wormtail talking, though?**

_Not sure. But we can talk while they get their act together._

** Okay, I can work with that... so do you have any idea what Babs is talking about?**

_ Words._

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. **Smart ass.**

James glanced at Elizabeth, smiling wickedly before writing, _Pretty much. Hey, so, I think we found our prank for Snivellus._

**Oh, yeah? Alright, what's the plan? By the way, Lily isn't talking to him. She's furious. At least that's what I've overheard her friends talking about: she and I haven't really discussed it. I think she's pretty hurt.**

_Thank God! He was polluting her... oh, yeah, okay. So. We're breaking into the Ravenclaw common room. We're gonna steal a pair of Grace Chang's granny panties (they are awful according to some inside sources) and Moony is gonna create a spell that causes them to stick to the outside of Snivellus's pants for 24 hours._

Elizabeth eyed the paper, feeling like this was a bad idea. **This is really cruel. And Moony is okay with this?**

_He called you a 'mudblood', Lizzy, Moony is furious at this point. Don't worry about it, we've done worse._

**I know but... this doesn't seem right.**

_Chill out. Padfoot and I are gonna head there tonight, around 8 o'clock._

**You'll never get in. You guys can't solve a riddle for your life. Bring Moony.**

_I'll ask him, but I think he has a shit ton of homework tonight. Will you come with us?_

**Screw that. I just got finished with my detentions from Minnie.**

_You had it coming, Liz._

**Shut up.**

The bell rang, and Elizabeth quickly, yet carefully, placed the magic piece of paper in her binder before meeting the rest of the Marauder's outside of the Ancient Runes classroom.

"Guys," She began once everyone was together, "this prank against Sev is really stupid. Can't we just leave it be? It's not even worth it. We haven't talked to him in over a week since it happened, I vote we leave it be."

"No, Paws, we can't. He called you... well, you know what he called you," James said, noticing how many people were around, "so I refuse to leave it be. We're going through with the plan whether you like it or not."

"Moony, will you go with them? They won't be able to figure the riddle out themselves," Elizabeth glanced at Remus, waiting for a response. He shifted his weight awkwardly.

"Well, okay. I'll go," He said quietly, and Elizabeth nodded.

"Good. Now, if you excuse me boys, I have homework to do,"

It was dark outside, around 9 o'clock at night. Three boys stood outside the Ravenclaw common room, talking to a bronze eagle in front of a navy colored door.

"Can you repeat the question?" Remus spoke to the eagle. The eagle proceeded to roll its eyes, but complied.

"What does man love more than life, fear more than death or mortal strife? What the poor have, the rich require, and what contented men desire? What misers spend and spendthrifts save, and all men carry to the grave?" The eagle spoke delicately, glancing at the boys, waiting for an answer.

"What responses have we already tried?" Sirius said, scratching his head.

"Friendship, nothing, sex, money, Firewhiskey, plenty of other answers that weren't correct," James counted off on his fingers, sighing.

"We gotta call Paws. She'll be able to figure it out," Sirius nodded, digging into his pocket to pull out his two-way mirror.

"Are you kidding me? Not only will she laugh at us, but she said she won't help us," James said, attempting to pull the mirror away. Sirius quickly dodged his hand, and waited for Elizabeth to show up in the mirror.

"Padfoot, what do you want? I thought you were supposed to be pranking or something of that sort," She spoke with an irritated tone, glancing at the boy in the mirror.

"We need help,"

"You can't figure out the riddle?"

There was eerie silence over the boys, not wanting to admit their failure. It was ultimately Remus who responded, "No, we can't."

"What's the riddle?" She asked, running her fingers through her hair. Hell, if Remus couldn't figure it out, neither could she.

"Uhm..." James glanced at the eagle, who sighed dramatically before repeating the riddle.

"What does man love more than life, fear more than death or mortal strife? What the poor have, the rich require, and what contented men desire? What misers spend and spendthrifts save, and all men carry to the grave?"

Another silence took over the hallway, and it was several minutes before Elizabeth responded.

"Love," She spoke. The boys looked at each other, flabbergasted.

"Love?" Remus asked. The figure in the mirror nodded.

"Love. Trust me, it's nothing. Try it," She spoke before turning off her mirror. Sirius swore, shaking the mirror to try to bring her back, but it didn't work.

"What have we got to lose?" James asked before facing the common room door, "love."

The door swung open, and the eagle muttered annoyingly, "She should have been in Ravenclaw. And you boys are absolutely idiotic,"

The boys smiled before walking into the common room, glancing around to make sure no one was there.

"The coast is clear," James said, before casting a spell to prevent the girl's staircase from turning into a slide.

They slowly and steadily walked up the stairs of the Ravenclaw girl's tower. They eyed the blue posters and rugs, waiting to arrive at the sixth year girl's dorm rooms. They soon did, and the boys checked the Marauder's map before walking in.

Sirius slowly turned the knob of the door, and strutted in. The room was decorated with blue and bronze, the dressers of dark oak. The curtains over the beds were absolutely dreadful, and the boys glanced at each other, seeing how messy the room was.

"Which one is Grace's?" James asked, glancing at Remus, who seemed to know everything.

"You ask me like I know. Just check the drawer's until you find a pair that you like. The sooner we get out of here, the better," Remus said nervously, standing in the middle of the room.

Each boy went to a different dresser, pulling open drawer after drawer. It seemed that all of the Ravenclaw girls had pairs of lacy thongs and delicate, seamless panties. The boys sighed - for this plan to be as humiliating as they wanted it to be, they had to find grannie panties. And not just saggy underwear, but awful, saggy underwear.

"Got it!" James turned around holding an exceptionally ugly pair of underwear. They were briefs in a barf-green color, with little hearts and odd things written on them. They appeared to not have been washed - disgusting stains that James avoiding touching - and were definitely the most terrible thing they had ever seen. As the boys looked at the pair, they smirked: they found it.


	11. Disappointment

"Where is he?" Sirius forcefully pushed his spoon into his plate of oatmeal, aggravated that Severus had yet to show up and soon they would need to leave for classes.

"I'm not really sure. He's usually here by now," Remus shrugged and looked around The Great Hall, seeing if there was any indication of why he wasn't there. There wasn't, of course: the usual group of Ravenclaws that were stalking Sirius were fluttering around and pointing at him, the Hufflepuffs were busily trying to complete their homework before class started, and the Slytherins seemed to be drowsy.

"There he is!" Peter said excitedly, and indeed, Severus Snape was sheepishly walking into The Great Hall.

"Guys," Elizabeth quickly interjected, "we don't have to do this."

James ignored Elizabeth's protests and pulled out his wand, flicking it underneath the table toward Snape.

The Marauders watched as a pair of those ugly emerald panties began appearing on him. He hadn't noticed, still walking toward the Slytherin table, until anyone who was looking that direction and saw began laughing hysterically and pointing. Severus looked around, his eyes flashing maniacally, looking for what was so funny. When he looked down, his eyes bulged at what he saw on him. He desperately attempted to pull them off, frantically searching for some help from the Slytherin table. As his distress was more apparent and more people noticed the scene, the laughter increased. Severus helplessly ran out of The Great Hall, managing to trip over a girl walking in, causing her to fall down.

"That. Was. Fantastic," Sirius bundled over his food and laughed loudly, along with the rest of the Marauders: all except Elizabeth.

"That was really cruel, guys," She sighed and took a bite of her pancakes, shaking her head slightly.

"He deserved it. It's called karma," James nodded and began laughing again. However, his laughter soon ceased as he saw Lily approach them, putting on a serious face.

"Why, hello Lily. Come to see my bulging muscles. The new Quidditch captain's bulging muscles," James winked at Lily as she rolled her eyes and faced Elizabeth, who was smiling at her sister.

"I hope you didn't have anything to do with that," She spoke.

"I didn't. It was all them," Elizabeth signaled to her friends, who refused to hang their heads in shame.

"That was really low. You guys are no better than him," Lily sighed and walked off, her short heels clicking against the stone floor.

"She's got a point," Elizabeth spoke as she took another bite of her food. The boys sighed, but James immediately got into defense mode.

"We are not anything like him! At all!"

"Well, you kind of are," Elizabeth shrugged and sipped on her ice water, eyeing the boys to look for any emotion.

"Gonna storm off like her?" Sirius looked at his girlfriend and discreetly placed his hand on her thigh, soothingly rubbing it.

"No, but it's only 'cuz I love you guys too much," Elizabeth smiled and pushed her food away, "so, it's Saturday. What are our plans for today?"

"Quidditch!" James said excitedly and Sirius rolled his eyes dramatically at his friend.

"Prongs, just because you're Quidditch coach does not mean you can talk us into playing Quidditch on a day when I could really go for Hogsmeade," Sirius groaned and shoveled food into the gaping whole he called a mouth.

"Actually," Elizabeth said before James could say something snarky in return, "I'm kind of in the mood for Quidditch. I didn't get any practice over the summer and I'm a little rusty. I could use some ass kicking to get me back into shape,"

"You don't kick anyone's ass, Paws," James said and Sirius, Peter, and Remus all looked at James like he had grown four heads in the last 10 seconds.

"Okay," James admitted, shrugging sheepishly, "you kick a lot of ass."

Elizabeth smiled and stood up, "I know I do, let's go before Sirius gets fat by eating so much food," Elizabeth pulled Sirius out of his chair, causing him to drop his fork with a loud 'clunk'.

"Hey, woman! I wasn't done there!" Sirius glared at Elizabeth, who smiled wickedly and shrugged, pulling up James and getting ready to go to the Quidditch pitch.

"Remus, Peter, you gonna join us? I could use some support in pointing out all of these boys failing Quidditch moves," Elizabeth winked and both Peter and Remus nodded, standing up with the rest of their friends.

The day was beautiful: there were few clouds in the sky, no wind, and the sun shined so brightly you practically needed sunglasses to be in the shade. Elizabeth loved it, however she couldn't help but wonder if the lack of wind would affect her use of hitting the bludgers with significant force.

Elizabeth pondered over how long it had been since she had played Quidditch as she pulled off her loose shirt and put on her tight Quidditch uniform. The captain of their team was always responsible for the size of the Quidditch uniforms, and of course because Elizabeth had stopped growing third year, yet her breasts seemed to get larger, she had not been able to convince any of the captains in the past years to get her a new uniform. Too much money, they would say. No, she knew that wasn't the truth: they wanted her to look like a prostitute.

Elizabeth ruffled her hair and stared at herself in the mirror, pulling it back into a tight ponytail before grabbing her bat and heading out. As she pushed the girl's locker door open to run outside, she saw Sirius standing about 15 feet away from the locker room.

She ran up to him, her hair swishing with her step, and when she finally stopped in front of him, a smile was apparent on her face.

"Ready to get your ass kicked? You can play Slytherin, I'll play Gryffindor," Elizabeth winked and Sirius glared.

"No way I'm getting my ass kicked. Slytherin would rock if I was on their team: all of their beaters suck," Sirius said truthfully and Elizabeth laughed, nodded her head in agreement.

"I never noticed how hot you look in your Quidditch uniform," Sirius spoke, grabbing Elizabeth's hands and pulling her closer to him. Elizabeth smiled and stared into his swirling gray eyes.

"Probably because you were always busy flirting with McKinnon," Elizabeth said and Sirius shook his head, smirking slightly.

"Shut up and kiss me," Before she could respond, or even act, Sirius pulled her closer and into a deep kiss. Elizabeth was caught off by the intensity of the kiss - the urgency and the hotness seeping through their lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and swished her hands through the back of his hair, moaning quietly as Sirius's tongue licked across her bottom lip. Sirius smirked into the kiss and took this as a key to go further, pushing her lips open to play a game of 'tonsil hockey'.

"Well, this is a surprise," James's voice spoke from behind Elizabeth, startling the couple. They pulled away quickly and looked at James awkwardly, pulling away from each other. Elizabeth dropped her jaw slightly in surprise and moved her arm to her neck, massaging it slowly as to try and avoid an awkward situation.

"So," James trailed off before starting up again, "when did this happen?"

"Two days ago. Recent," Sirius said and James nodded in comprehension. There was a short silence before he responded.

"It's about bloody time, mates!" James broke out into a smile and hugged both of his friends. Elizabeth laughed and hugged her friend tightly.

"It looks like Peter is shocked to find out," She said, tilting her head toward the Quidditch stands. Peter was shaking Remus and Remus appeared to be laughing in response.

"Peter is the last to know everything," Sirius nodded and James laughed, agreeing with him.

"Hey, let's go play some Quidditch," James said, mounting his broom and shooting off into the sky.

Quidditch practice was rough for the three. They all were out of shape from a lazy summer, and seemed incapable of really being able to do anything correctly for the first half hour. Soon, however, the game came into a swift pattern and they caught back up on their skills.

And when the Marauders arrived back to the Gryffindor tower late that evening after grueling hours of Quidditch practice, everyone seemed to know that Sirius and Elizabeth were now dating. Elizabeth wasn't surprised: a lot of people were outside and probably saw Elizabeth and Sirius kissing in between scores, not to mention the amount of girl frolicking over him on the stands. And with every step, Elizabeth felt like more and more girls were glaring holes into the back of her head.

"I didn't realize that dating you came with such a price, Sirius," Elizabeth laughed, reaching for his hand as the two straggled behind the three boys, quickly pacing up the stairs to go play a game of Wizard's chess.

"Everything that has to do with me comes with a price," Sirius winked at his girlfriend, who smiled and pushed into him.

"I suppose so, but Jesus Christ. It's like within a matter of hours I've become the most hated person on the planet,"

_Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present]_

"You probably have," Sirius agreed, "there are probably cults all around the world who have devoted their existence to destroying you to get to me."

"Jerk," Elizabeth said and pulled away from him, racing to the Gryffindor tower. Sirius caught on her heels quickly, and as they both burst through the common room at the same time, Sirius leaped to tackle her. Right before Sirius was going to tickle Elizabeth in a frenzy, a voice boomed across the room.

"Elizabeth, we need to talk," Lily Evans stood close to Elizabeth, her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently.

"Oh boy, here we go," Elizabeth mumbled and glanced at Sirius who smiled apologetically and watched Elizabeth walk toward her sister.

"Yes, my lovely sister?" Elizabeth smiled brightly and only received a hostile glare from Lily.

"Upstairs, now," Lily pulled on her sister's arm and dragged her up the long staircase and into their dormitory, pushing her in and slamming the door.

"You're dating Sirius?" Lily shouted unusually loudly for her, and Elizabeth glanced toward the ground before back up at her sister.

"Okay, chill out, Lils. It's not even a big deal,"

"A big deal?" Lily laughed sarcastically before continuing to talk, "this is a huge deal! He is a player, Elizabeth, and you are not getting your heart broken!"

"Lily, really, he's not a player. You're a little biased. Don't even worry about it, it'll be fine. We have it all under control," Elizabeth kept her calm and leaned against her bed post, waiting for Lily to respond.

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe you're dating such a - such a... a dunderhead!" Elizabeth chuckled slightly at Lily's choice of words before responding.

"Really, Lily, you need to go take a Valium. No hearts are gonna break, I promise. Sirius and I decided we liked each other and we acted on it, and here we are," Elizabeth shrugged and sat down on her bed, staring across the room.

"I am so disappointed in you," Lily shook her head and quietly stepped out of the room. Elizabeth momentarily sat in shock, digesting what her sister had said to her. She couldn't remember the last time her and Lily had a fight; nor if she had ever claimed she was 'disappointed' in her. Elizabeth felt slightly ashamed, understanding why Lily was upset: she was dating a boy who did have the reputation of being a player, and could break her heart. Not only that, but was the best friend of the guy who has been stalking Lily for the past 5 years. She understood, but couldn't help but feel hurt.

Elizabeth sighed and laid down on her bed, breathing in deeply. As her thoughts consumed her, the door to the dormitory opened. Elizabeth cracked her head up to see one of her roommates, a French transfer student named Aurelia Donét, walk into the room.

Aurelia was the essence of beauty in Elizabeth's opinion: her dark chestnut hair curled around her shoulders and her perfectly sculpted face harvested cerulean eyes that seemed to house innocence. Elizabeth had always wanted to speak to her, but it seemed as if they were rarely in the same dormitory at any given time.

"Oh, hello Elizabeth," Aurelia said in her thick accent, smiling toward the distressed girl on the bed. Elizabeth smiled back before putting her head back down.

"Hey Aurelia," Elizabeth said somewhat lifelessly. Aurelia raised an eyebrow as she sat down on her bed, pulling out her book work.

"What has got you upset?" Aurelia said gently.

"Just problems with my sister," Elizabeth spoke truthfully and Aurelia nodded knowingly.

"I figured. She came 'unning in the common room as I walked up. She appeared upset. What has you two fighting?" Aurelia opened her Charms book and took out a sheet of paper, doing her homework but glancing back at Elizabeth often.

"She's just upset about who I'm dating. I honestly understand it, and Lily has a tendency of overreacting anyways, but she said she was disappointed in me and I don't think that's necessarily fair considering that it's all because I'm dating a boy she disapproves of," Elizabeth was slightly surprised that she was revealing this all to a girl who was practically a stranger, but it felt natural and welcoming to discuss her feelings.

"Siriouz, right?" Aurelia pronounced his name awkwardly but Elizabeth nodded, knowing who she was discussing, "well, he does 'ave a reputation. Maybe 'tis better to just let her... how would you say it? Cool down for awhile? I'm sure she will understood with time. Ma soeur and I once got in a fight because I was dating a boy who used to like her and she felt he was just trying to use me for her. He was not, but it take her time to realize it. Now, we never let a silly boy get in da way of any problems,"

Elizabeth sat up and smiled at the exchange student, nodding knowingly, "Yeah, I think you're right. However, Lily has a temper so it might take her longer than usual, but I'm sure once she calms down and we have a discussion about how I feel about him, she'll understand. Thanks, Aurelia,"

"You are welcome, Elizabeth. I'm 'ere to 'elp," Aurelia smiled and looked back down at her bookwork. Elizabeth watched her before speaking.

"You and I should talk more often. I don't have many girl friends here, and it would be nice to have one who isn't my sister and who doesn't hate me. You seem like a nice person," Aurelia glanced up and smiled brightly.

"Of course, 'owever we do not have any classes together. But we shall hang out tomorrow, yes? Since it is Sunday?"

"Okay, that works for me," Elizabeth smiled again and collapsed on her bed, thinking an early bed time wouldn't be such a bad thing.


	12. Violins

Elizabeth adored Sunday mornings. It was the time where she could sleep in, where few girls were in the dormitory - many students, mostly girls, had gotten permission from Albus Dumbledore to go to a church at the end of Hogsmeade to worship. Elizabeth didn't do church, however Lily did, so it wasn't a surprise when she woke up that morning and everyone was gone... except Aurelia.

"Good morning," Aurelia spoke in her thick accent. She stood in front of a grand mirror, putting her hair in a braid and leaving it to drape one of her shoulders. Her makeup was delicately put on and Elizabeth wondered how long she had been up.

"You get this dressed up for Sundays?" Elizabeth said jokingly as she sat up, stretching her arms above her head and yawning. Pulling her warm blanket off of her, she stood up and rummaged through her dresser to find a pair of sweat pants and a tight tank top.

"In France, to even be in la maison means you must wear makeup. It's a tradition for the women," Aurelia smiled and flattened out her black skirt and laced purple top. Elizabeth nodded and grabbed her clothes.

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense. Well, I'm gonna take a shower. And then we can discuss whatever you want to do today," Elizabeth spoke and wandered into the bathroom, flipping on the shower so hot steam could fill the room. She slowly undressed and tiptoed into the warm shower, sighing as the droplets hit her skin gingerly.

As Elizabeth washed her hair, her thoughts wandered over to whether her sister would still be angry with her. She sighed in sadness that Lily would be so furious over a stupid boy, but if she knew her twin well, she knew that eventually she would come to her senses.

Elizabeth soon got out of the shower and magically dried her hair, letting it wave down her shoulders and her bangs to be slightly messy and distraught. She pulled on her tight green tank top that hugged her waist nicely and a pair of black sweat pants, not bothering to put on any makeup: she thought she looked worse with it than without.

When Elizabeth walked out, she smiled at Aurelia, "So what are we doing?"

"I was thinking we could just 'ang out with your friends today. I've never talked to them and I know you are cloze wit' them," Aurelia smiled and Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Okay, if that's what you want; but if you want to do anything else I don't mind. Sometimes it's good to get a break from the guys," Aurelia smiled gently in response.

"I know, but it's good for meh to make new friends, right? We may go to Hogsamade whenever we 'ave the next trep," Elizabeth stiffled a laughter at her attempt at saying 'Hogsmeade', nodding in response.

"Okay, then let's go and see if those fat lards are awake," Elizabeth led Aurelia down the girls staircase and told her to wait in the common room as she ran up the staircase, ready to wake up her friends with a loud 'bang'.

Elizabeth practically kicked the door open as loudly as possible to wake them up, and it was definitely a startle to the sleeping figures. They all gasped and woke up quickly, wondering if there was attack until they saw Elizabeth.

"Jesus Christ, Paws, go get a life," James said as he plopped himself back into his bed, pulling a pillow over his head.

"Oh, no you don't," Elizabeth skipped over to his bed and pulled the pillow off his head, chucking it at Peter.

"Wakey, wakey! The sun is out, it's a beautiful day, my hot French friend wants to meet you guys, get your asses out of bed!" Elizabeth said and Peter immediately perked up.

"Hot French friend?" Peter asked excitedly and Elizabeth sighed.

"Wormtail, don't get your hopes up," James burst out laughing at Elizabeth's response, while a sad Peter let his head tilt down.

"Okay, that was awesome," James held up his hand for a high-five, to which Elizabeth gave him happily.

"Moony, Padfoot! Get up, now!" Elizabeth screamed and Remus sat up, rubbing his head softly.

"You're an ass, Paws," Remus said and Elizabeth smiled, glancing over at Sirius, who seemed to still be sleeping in bed. However, Elizabeth knew that he was faking it, so she decided to go and make him pay for his 'lie'.

Elizabeth walked over to his bed and took out her wand from the back pocket of her jeans. With one hand, she slowly glided a glass of water over from Remus's nightstand. She allowed her other hand to slowly glide down to Sirius's bare chest, rubbing it soothingly, feeling Sirius move underneath her touch. Elizabeth smirked as she winked at Remus, then leaned her head toward Sirius, licking his ear and biting his earlobe slightly. Sirius moaned quietly, only for Elizabeth to hear, and Elizabeth looked at the glass of water now hovering over Sirius. Right when she moved her head only an inch or two away from him, she allowed her wand to cause the glass to tip onto Sirius, soaking his hair and his bedsheets. Sirius burst up, water dripping from all orifices, his face completely shocked. The boys laughed hysterically, and Elizabeth simply smiled innocently.

"Good morning!" She said and Sirius turned his head, glaring at the blonde.

"I fucking hate you," He said as he got out of bed, dripping water onto the hardwood floor.

"You love me! Now, you four, take showers, get your butts downstairs, and let's go eat! I think waffles are in order for this fantastic stunt of mine," Elizabeth winked at Sirius before skipping happily out of the room and down the stairs of the boy's dormitory.

"She is one feisty fox," James said, shaking his head and laughing quietly.

"That she is," Sirius ran his hands through his wet hair, then shook his head like a dog, spraying water over the boys in the room, causing them to groan at Sirius.

"Hi, I ams Aurelia," Aurelia smiled at the boys standing in front of her. Her eyes lingered over Sirius, as she glanced at Elizabeth to give her a discreet thumbs up, and then looked at the other boys. Of course, the boys - excluding Sirius - were all looking at Aurelia with their jaws dropped.

A silence over swam the group and Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Standing there like fucking idiots does not make her want to get in your pants, just FYI,"

The boys were pulled out of their trance and stole a glare at Elizabeth before smiling brightly at Aurelia.

"Why hello there, madame," James took Aurelia's hand to his mouth to kiss it, causing her to blush.

"It's 'mademoiselle', James," Elizabeth rolled her eyes again before pushing James away from Aurelia, "you're gonna give her your Herpes,"

"What?" James said, obviously appalled, before Elizabeth laughed loudly.

"Okay, so, you've met James. That's Sirius. And these to handsome fellas are Remus and Peter," Elizabeth nodded her heads at each boy individually and Aurelia smiled.

"Bonjour!" Remus smiled brightly as Aurelia spoke, and Elizabeth noticed a timid glance between the two. She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Can we go eat? I'm starved," The boys nodded at Elizabeth and the group began walking off. James, Remus, and Peter all stood next to Aurelia, listening to her avidly as she discussed her life in France, while Elizabeth and Sirius straggled behind.

"I think Moony likes her," Elizabeth smiled sheepishly as Sirius gently laced his hand through hers; however, she soon noticed a group of girls standing by a gargoyle glaring, so she decided to smile wider to aggravate them.

"He definitely does, but God knows he won't act on it,"

"Furry little problem,"

"Furry little problem," Sirius repeated, nodding his head. As the two caught snippets of the conversation in front of them - "Oh, that's so cool! James, you 'ave to teach me to play." "Of course, Aurelia, and Remus can show you how to get to the library since that's all he does with his life," - they laughed quietly and walked in pattern.

"So what you did this morning wasn't very friendly, Paws," Sirius spoke huskily and Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, acting unaffected.

"Shit happens," Sirius growled and Elizabeth giggled - very much unlike her - at his attempt to scare her.

"You're a big boy, you'll survive," Sirius pinched Elizabeth's hand, who didn't flinch or move or anything, and glared as he lost the fight.

"You owe me," Sirius spoke and Elizabeth nodded, agreeing.

"Okay, I owe you," Elizabeth smiled and stopped walking, getting up on her toes to give him a peck on the lips before following the group in front of her into The Great Hall.

"I zink we should all go out today," Aurelia spoke as the five sat down, digging their hands through bowls of porridge and eggs.

"Where do you wanna go?" Sirius glanced upward before smiling excitedly at the already full plate of food below him.

"Tis nice outside, maybe we can go sit by the lake?" Aurelia asked and Peter and James shrugged their shoulders.

"We go to the lake a lot," Peter said somewhat aggressively and Elizabeth gaped at him through her food.

"Wormtail! Be nice!" Elizabeth rolled her eyes and looked at Aurelia, "I'm fine with the lake."

"I vote we go to Hogsmeade," James said happily, and glanced at Aurelia for support.

"Well, okay. Just us six?" Aurelia said nervously. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, curious why she was so nervous, but let it drop.

"Just us six,"

"So this iz 'e infamous Zonko's?" Aurelia tilted her head, staring at the elaborate building in front of her. Everyone around her nodded excitedly.

"This is where we get all of our pranks," James begun.

"The best ones, like-" Sirius started up again, but Elizabeth interrupted excitedly.

"-when we covered Filch's cat in that green goo that caused him to start dancing and his voice box to play crappy 50's muggle music for a week-" Elizabeth smiled and laughed.

"-or when we set so many Dungbombs off in the Slytherin common room they had to evacuate it for a month-" Peter said, remembering the image of Lucius Malfoy furious that all of his clothes smelled like dungbombs.

"-let's not forget the nose-biting teacups we gave to all the professors," It was unusual that Remus butted in, but everyone remembered that he had come up with the idea after he had gotten a 'partially proficient' on an exam of Slughorn's.

The six laughed hysterically at all of the memories, shaking their heads excitedly to go and show Aurelia around their favorite joke shop.

"Wow, you are quite the trouble makers," Aurelia smiled and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Too much chitchat, not enough splurging of money on joke supplies!" James began walking in before Elizabeth butt in.

"Hey, guys, I'm actually gonna head over to Dominic Maestro's," Elizabeth glanced down the street at the music store, seeming very empty in comparison to Zonko's.

"Are you sure, Paws?" Peter asked worriedly, but Elizabeth nodded in assurance.

"Yeah, I'm positive. You guys pick out the best joke supplies you can find for me," Elizabeth smiled before beginning to walk over to the store.

"Elizabeth," Aurelia called out, walking over to her.

"It's okay to leave me with 'em?" Aurelia asked nervously, glancing at the boys around her, all talking loudly about what they planned on buying.

"Yeah, I'm positive! They'll be good... I hope," Elizabeth winked before beginning to walk off.

The smell of old music stores always managed to captivate Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who had been playing piano and violin since she was a young child, unlike Lily who preferred painting and drawing over instruments, always loved to shop around in music stores. She had never once brought her violin to Hogwarts, and when Elizabeth spotted the music shop this time around, she felt she needed a new violin. The one she had kept at home was being tormented by Petunia learning to play, causing splints and cracks down the side of bout.

Before Elizabeth was in there for more than a minute, a voice spoke to her from across the empty shop.

"May I help you?" It was a sultry, deep voice. Elizabeth glanced at the source, who happened to be a young man, no older than 18. His hair was a light blond and he had striking blue eyes, at least a full head or two taller than Elizabeth. He was dressed in a black suit, and smiling at Elizabeth. To her, he looked vaguely familiar.

"Uhm, yes, actually. I'm looking for a new violin," Elizabeth said, looking around at the violin section near the back of the store.

"What happened to your old one?" He asked as he nodded toward the violins, walking to the back. Elizabeth followed him and began responding.

"I left it at home, and my sister attempted to learn. She cracked the bout and the scroll has snapped in half," Elizabeth said and saw the employee cringe.

"Ouch, yeah, it's definitely smarter for you to invest in a new one than to get it replaced. What type did you have before?"

As Elizabeth eyed the violins, she spoke absentmindedly, "A 1929 Angelo Radrizzani. 4/4, 324 mm,"

"Wow, that's an expensive violin," He glanced at the girl, who shrugged her shoulders.

"It was inherited from my mother. It was a present from her uncle, who was friends with the luthier,"

"Do you want something like that?" He walked over to the right side of the Violin wall.

"I was thinking maybe an Auguste Bernardel, the 1830, 4/4, 355 mm. From Paris," Elizabeth spotted the dark brown violin near the end of the line of violins. Her hand reached out to touch it before she stopped herself.

"You definitely have expensive taste," Elizabeth eyed the price tag. 200 galleons. Expensive, most definitely, but she knew she had enough money in her purse.

"That's okay. Can I try it out?" The employee nodded at her and she gently removed the violin from the case.

She slowly ran the bow across the string, and a sweet ring resonated around the empty room. She smiled and slowly began playing her favorite piece, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's concerto number 5. The minor chords bounced across the walls of the room, and within a minute she released the bow and smiled.

"I like it, I think I'm going to get it,"

"Okay," He smiled and reached for the violin, heading over to the register to wrap it gently in a box. Elizabeth handed him some money before speaking.

"I feel like I recognize you, do I know you?" Elizabeth asked and the boy smiled.

"I'm Tyler. Tyler Robertson. I was in Ravenclaw, I graduated yesterday,"

"Oh, yeah! You were in my Care of Magical Creatures class. I'm Elizabeth," Elizabeth nodded in remembrance.

"I know," Tyler smiled, and Elizabeth decided to ask a question.

"Why did you decide to work here?"

"My grandfather owns it, and I've been playing violin, piano, cello, and guitar since I was a child. I've always wanted to work here," Tyler spoke and Elizabeth smiled.

"That's really cool. Well, thanks Tyler. I'll see you around," Elizabeth began to pick up the box, but suddenly stopped, a glazed look going over her eyes.

"Elizabeth?" Tyler's voice was distant as Elizabeth began losing her grip.

_"What a beautiful little girl," A dark voice echoed across the pitch-black room. A scream sounded from a woman across the room, and the sounds of her tears were loud as they hit against the tile floor._

_ Suddenly the lights flicked on and a man with a hood and mask walked over a trembling woman on the floor. Her black hair was messy and sticking to the sweat against her forehead._

Elizabeth passed out, her head hitting against the edge of the desk before falling against the hard floor.


	13. Saying Sorry

Lily had always felt like the Hospital Wing was possibly the most ugly place in the entire castle. The cream beds that lined the walls looked like they had come out of a 40's horror film, and the chandelier that hung above sometimes creaked as people stepped below it. Therefore, she was slightly glad that Madam Pompfry had refused to let her in - but only slightly.

Lily paced in the hallway outside the Hospital Wing, her hands twittering and her hair swishing with her steps. Her thoughts were clouded with regret and guilt. How could she have been so stupid, being mad at Elizabeth over such a stupid thing? She really felt like it was ridiculous, her overreaction - and now her beloved twin was in the Hospital Wing, still passed out.

Suddenly, a pair of foot steps came running down silent the hallway, echoing against the brick walls. Lily whipped her head around and was brought face to face with Sirius Black, his black hair whipping behind him as he ran down the hallway.

"I just heard, is she okay?" Sirius tried to walk to the door to go in, but Lily interrupted him.

"Madam Pompfry won't let anyone in, not yet. She's still checking her out. She hasn't woke up yet," Lily sighed and glanced at the floor, tears filling her eyes, but she took in a deep breath and they subsided, "I'm really sorry, Sirius. I shouldn't have been so angry with you, and with her."

"It's okay, I understand. James is a little, well, pushy," Sirius smiled and walked over to Lily.

"A little?" Lily laughed before talking, "I really am sorry, though."

"Don't worry about it. I just hope Lizzy is okay," Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, obviously distressed. Lily put a hand on his shoulder, and then hugged him tightly.

"Me too,"

"I shouldn't have let her go to Dominic Maestro's by herself. If I was there maybe I could have sensed it was going to happen, maybe prevented her from hitting her head," Sirius trailed off and Lily counteracted his thoughts.

"I doubt it would have made a difference. It doesn't matter. Where are the rest of the guys, anyways?" Lily glanced around the hallway, suddenly aware of the fact that the usual crowd wasn't there to hear Elizabeth's prognosis.

"We were with Aurelia, so they offered to take her back. Aurelia was going to grab Elizabeth some clothes and the boys were just gonna escort her here, since she doesn't know where it is," Lily nodded in understanding.

"I've never really talked to her, she seems a little shy,"

"A little bit, but she was a lot of fun in Zonko's. She had some good joke ideas," Lily decided now wasn't the time to give Sirius a long lecture on why he and the rest of the Marauders shouldn't be playing pranks, so she stayed quiet.

An awkward silence enveloped the two teenagers standing outside the door until the rest of the Marauders and Aurelia appeared. Lily saw that each of them looked confused and worried, and noticed the large back Aurelia was carrying.

"How much shit did you bring for her?" Lily asked, raising and eyebrow. Aurelia shrugged and glanced down at the bag.

"Well, we do not know 'ow long she will be here, so I brought many items. A couplet of outfits, zome hair bandz, and other clothing. James suggested we bring her zome books and her homework," Lily looked at James, shocked.

"You brought her her homework? You don't believe in homework," James shrugged at Lily.

"Nah, but Paws does, and I figured if she's gonna be here awhile recovering from her little accident, she's going to freak if she gets behind on her work," Lily smiled, but then forced a grave look on her face.

Suddenly, the door to the Hospital Wing burst open and the six students turned around, anxious for the news. Madam Pompfry looked calm, a small smile on her face.

"You may come in, but please be quiet. She isn't fully awake or lucid, we don't want to overwhelm her, okay children?" Madam Pompfry spoke and the students nodded, walking as quietly as they could into the Hospital Wing.

Elizabeth's bed was near the back of the room, the curtain not placed around her. Her blond hair was laying in heaps around her head and it seemed slightly wet, as if it had previously been drenched in sweat. Her eyes were closed, her breathing solid, and she would seem like she was just asleep if the rest hadn't known better.

Although Sirius was incredibly grateful to see she was okay and wanted to grab her hand and kiss it sweetly, it was Lily who immediately went up to Elizabeth's bedside and sat down, reaching for her hand. Elizabeth twitched slightly and her eyes began fluttering open.

"Lily?" Elizabeth said horsely. Lily nodded fervently and began crying, despite herself.

"I'm so sorry I got mad at you, Elizabeth! I won't do it again, it doesn't matter. I'm really sorry! I'm so glad you're okay!" Lily hugged her sister gently, her tears soaking Elizabeth's tank top.

"Lily," Elizabeth said weakly, causing Lily to release and look at her sister, "grow some balls."

The group around her laughed, knowing that their old Elizabeth was back to normal - at least emotionally.

"Did they get my violin into my room?" Elizabeth asked and Remus nodded.

"Tyler, is that his name? He flooed Dumbledore who came down with Madam Pompfry. Madam Pompfry flooed you here and Dumbledore took your violin and put it in your room," Remus said and Elizabeth nodded, "do you remember what happened?"

Elizabeth thought for a moment, but her mind was pulling up blanks, "The last thing I remember is paying for my violin,"

"Well, it's okay, don't push yourself too hard," James said comfortingly and Elizabeth nodded.

"Hello, darling," Madam Pompfry suddenly appeared - to Sirius, it felt like she appeared out of thin air - and pushed past the group of teenagers, feeling Elizabeth's forehead.

"What's the prognosis, doc?" Elizabeth asked, showing a small smile, but her voice cracked.

"Doc? What - oh, never mind that. You have a pretty abnormal sized concussion, you really must have hit your head hard against the concrete. Other than that, everything is normal. Did you eat breakfast today?"

"Uhm," Elizabeth struggled to remember if she ate and what she ate, if that.

"Waffles, a cup of strawberries, and a glass of milk," Sirius said automatically. Elizabeth stared at him and smiled.

"That sounds like something I would eat," Madam Pompfry nodded again, glancing at Sirius before writing something down on the clipboard she previously had behind her back.

"Can you tell me what the date is, darling?" Elizabeth was silent for several moments before finally speaking.

"October 5, 19..." Elizabeth trailed off for a moment before finishing, "...75,"

"Perfect, darling. Now can you tell me your name? And your birthday?" Madam Pompfry yet again began scribbling down notes, not looking Elizabeth in the eye.

"Elizabeth Renée Evans, January 30, 1960," The words came naturally to her and Elizabeth smiled, glad she could remember that easily.

"Hmmm, well, you seem to be struggling a little bit, but it looks like you haven't lost any memory except right before your little fall. I'm going to go get you some food and a potion that should help, I'll be back," Madam Pompfry smiled at everyone around Elizabeth's bed before walking off into the back door.

"I didn't know your middle name was Renée, Paws," James said, smirking at Elizabeth who weakly glared.

"I hate it. Lily loves it, Petunia loves it, I hate it," Elizabeth said and Lily sighed.

"It's really pretty, Liz. You need to learn to like it," Elizabeth closed her eyes and smiled before reopening them.

"So how was Zonko's?"

Despite Madam Pompfry's constant protesting, the six students stayed by Elizabeth's bed side until dinner. Several fights occurred between her and James about going and eating and not talking so loudly, which greatly amused the rest of the teenagers.

Once everyone started becoming hungry, James, Lily, Remus, Peter, and Aurelia all stood up from their chairs and began walking out the door. James soon noticed Sirius was not by his side as usual, and turned around.

"Padfoot, you coming?" James raised an eyebrow and Sirius shook his head.

"I'll catch up with you soon," James nodded in understanding and led the rest of the group out, talking avidly about what they were going to eat.

Sirius moved his chair closer to Elizabeth's head and gently rubbed a hair strand out of her eye.

"You gave us all quite the scare, Lizzy," Sirius said and Elizabeth smiled at him.

"Sorry, mate. I had to buy a violin, though," Elizabeth smiled wider, knowing that Sirius wasn't exactly referring to her buying a violin.

"You really don't remember what happened?" Elizabeth shook her head at his question.

"No, it just must have been low blood sugar or I tripped or something," Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders slightly and yawned, getting tired by the minute.

"I'll let you go," Sirius gently kissed Elizabeth's forehead before standing up, reaching for her hand and squeezing it one last time.

"I'll see you later, Paws," Just as Sirius was walking off, Elizabeth interrupted like her usual self.

Coughing, Elizabeth spoke, "I think I deserve a real kiss after 'my little scare',"

Elizabeth smirked and Sirius walked back over to Elizabeth, kissing her softer than usual against her lips.

"Go sleep," Sirius whispered before kissing her again, walking out the door and leaving Elizabeth all alone to ponder what caused her to pass out.


	14. Hufflenerds

Elizabeth couldn't stand staying in bed all day; so for those three weeks in which she lingered around the hospital room on constant surveillance by Madame Pompfry, she was about ready to use "obliviate" on everyone in the castle and escape. Her friends would visit her when they could - on more than one occasion James and Sirius would ditch class, run to the kitchens, and bring her goodies that Madame Pompfry didn't want her to eat - which she was thankful for, but for 19 hours a day, she was utterly alone.

Needless to say, when Madame Pompfry woke her up from a peaceful sleep on a Saturday morning to tell her she could leave within the hour, she nearly pissed herself.

And soon, after contacting the Marauders through the mirrors, her and the boys were trotting down the stairs, on the way to the common room.

"Let's reck some havoc, guys," Elizabeth said eagerly, bouncing up and down like a child. James laughed heartily at her.

"I think you've had enough havoc, Paws. We're gonna keep it safe," Elizabeth smacked James upon his head, slightly miffed.

"Are you kidding me? I've just gone three weeks without leaving the damn Hospital Wing and you're not gonna let me do my favorite thing in the whole wide world?" Elizabeth said, and Remus mumbled something under his breath, "what was that, Moony?"

"Sirius," Remus said quietly and the boys burst out laughing, causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes and glance at her boyfriend.

"Well, he's got a point," Sirius smirked at Elizabeth, who smacked him hardly upside the head, causing him to release a quiet 'ow!'

"Shut up," Elizabeth smiled, glad to be with her friends again.

Elizabeth didn't want to behave. She couldn't possibly behave after not leaving any prominent marks on Hogwarts for three weeks. As she tapped a notepad with a mechanical pencil - colored with hearts and swirls - she wondered what she could do that would remind everyone tomorrow morning that she was back.

It was late, and all of the girls were asleep. Elizabeth had wondered where Lily was - she hasn't seen her all day - but let it go as she questioned whether to use a dungbomb or to poor goo all over the school.

Suddenly, the door creaked open and through Elizabeth's closed curtain, she could see a shadow moving quietly to Lily's bed.

"Nice of you to join us," Elizabeth spoke and the footsteps stopped. Elizabeth smiled at the fact Lily thought being suddenly silent would make it seem to Elizabeth as if none of this ever happened, "where have you been?"

As Lily didn't respond, Elizabeth loudly cleared her throat; a warning to Lily that if she didn't start talking she was gonna wake up all the girls in the room, including Marlene McKinnon, who would give her hell far worse than Elizabeth could ever put into action.

Suddenly footsteps ran over to Elizabeth's bed side and a delicate hand swished and opened the curtain - Elizabeth noticed the purple nails and she wondered when Lily started painting her nails - and dragged Elizabeth out of the room, to the bathroom.

Elizabeth turned on the light and sat gingerly on the floor, her eyes blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the bright light. Finally, after the pain subsided, she looked at Lily. Lily had her beautiful ruby hair pushed behind her shoulders with a beautiful Japanese comb that Elizabeth recognized as their mother's. She was wearing a blue tank top and a pair of dark jeans that hugged her figure tightly, as well as some black mascara and blue eyeshadow.

"Lily, are you... are you wearing makeup?" Elizabeth asked in a shocked tone, knowing that Lily never wore makeup. Lily looked at herself in the mirror before responding.

"Shut up, you've worn makeup before," Lily said accusingly and Elizabeth nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't think it's 'the devil's consumer product'," Elizabeth smirked, remembering what Lily had said about Elizabeth wearing makeup in their third year.

"Oh, whatever," Lily said, staring into the mirror and fixing a piece of hair that had managed to struggle its way out of Lily's perfected, hair-sprayed sculpture.

"So, tell me, where have you been at this late hour?" Elizabeth questioned, raising an eyebrow at Lily. Lily sighed before answering.

"I was on a date," Lily said quietly, hoping Elizabeth wouldn't hear the first time, but of course Elizabeth did.

"A date? With you?" Lily mumbled something in response, which Elizabeth couldn't understand, "mind speaking in english, love?"

"Amos Diggory," Lily said sheepishly and Elizabeth's mouth dropped to the floor.

"Amos Diggory? The Hufflenerd? No way!" Elizabeth started laughing placing a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles.

"Shut up! He's not a 'Hufflenerd'. He's a very kind and loving boy," Lily sat down on the cold bathroom tile next to Elizabeth, looking at her.

"Uh, no, he's definitely a Hufflenerd. How the bloody hell did this happen?" Elizabeth said, slightly shocked. Lily had never had a boyfriend, let alone a date - even with the tremendous amounts of boys who had been asking her out since third year.

"Well, we have divination together," Lily ignored Elizabeth's 'the most ridiculous class ever' comment, "so we started talking, and well, he asked me on a date."

"When was this?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Two weeks ago," Lily said, hanging her head slightly in shame.

"Two weeks ago? As in, you got asked TWO WEEKS AGO? You didn't tell me? God knows you've already gone on at least one date, which means this is at least the second, which means you haven't told me for two weeks!" Elizabeth said, her voice getting gradually louder.

"You were always around those stupid boys! I couldn't well tell you. No one knows. Amos and I have decided to keep us a secret,"

"'Us'? You two are dating? I can't believe this," Elizabeth muttered, shaking her head. Lily was dating Amos. This seemed so strange to her - Amos was nice, sure, but Lily was popular and beautiful and Amos was like a pound of black rock next to ten thousand diamonds.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. Like I said, we never got to talk alone," Lily spoke truthfully. Elizabeth sighed, not wanting to hold a grudge, but was still none-the-less upset that Lily hadn't told her.

"Well, how was the date?" Elizabeth asked and Lily immediately began smiling like crazy.

"Really nice, actually. He knows this secret passage to Hogsmeade so we went through this passage and then walked through Hogsmeade. It was really pretty without any light pollution and the stars were just beautiful. It was sweet," Lily blushed and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"He only knows that passage 'cuz he followed me and James when we went to Hogsmeade to buy a dungbomb from Zonko's last year," Elizabeth grumbled, but with the glare Lily gave, she decided to ignore that, "but that's great. Are you happy?"

"It's only been two weeks, but yeah, definitely," Lily smiled and Elizabeth smiled back, reaching over to hug her.

"Then I'm happy for you, too" Elizabeth said, standing up, "but I need to finish making some plans. Go sleep, write your lover boy, whatever you want," Elizabeth winked before dimming the bathroom light and walking to her bed, knowing the perfect prank to pull.


	15. There's Always Hope

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present]

Author's Note: I'm not getting any reviews! Please review! I might stop writing if I think no one likes my work.)':

Sirius was tired of students coming up to Elizabeth, primarily attractive young lads; asking her how she was feeling now that she was back. Elizabeth smiled, chatted a little bit and then moved on to the next person standing in the line as she attempted to eat breakfast - and ultimately failing. Everyone seemed to be wanting to make sure she was okay; to plan a study group, to go out shopping, or to find out what really happened in that music shop.

Elizabeth eventually told everyone to bugger off, wanting to eat her pancakes, but said it in a nicer way (if you consider "Look, guys, I really need to eat breakfast so. Go away." nice). As Elizabeth shoved pancakes in her face, she looked at the ceiling, seeing small pockets above the teacher's table. Elizabeth smiled and stared at the pockets, focusing all of her energy on the pockets opening. Suddenly, the pockets began swelling and a pink goo began dripping onto McGonagall's head. As she looked up, the pockets opened and released a lime green goo onto the teachers. The Great Hall burst out in laughter as the teachers stood up, angry and looking around to see who was the culprit.

Elizabeth burst out laughing and stared down at her lap, trying to avoid eye contact with the teachers to blow her cover. The Marauders looked at Elizabeth knowingly and laughed along with her, patting her on the back for her funny prank.

McGonagall stood up at the teacher's table, green goo dripping onto the floor and the Great Hall became very silent, afraid of the fiery wrath inside her eyes. She cleared her throat and glared at the tables before her before speaking, "Once I find out who has done this, you will get detention for months! This is absolutely unacceptable! And if I find out that you are from MY house, I will ban you from Quidditch, or Hogsmeade, or anything I can find!"

Elizabeth's eyes practically bulged out of her head, glancing at James who looked angry that his best start could potentially be banned from Quidditch for the year - or even the rest of their stay at Hogswarts. Elizabeth sighed and ran a hand through her hair when suddenly Dumbledore stood up with McGonagall.

"Oh, Minerva, I think that we will let this one prank slide. As I simply," Dumbledore took out his wand with his long fingers and waved it, vanishing the goo from all of the teachers, "can fix it. This was obviously simply a prank from someone who felt the need to prank," Dumbledore caught eyes with Elizabeth and winked at her, causing her to smile.

"Thank God," James said, sighting dramatically.

"I do think that we should postpone classes, however. Teachers can catch up with their grading and students can catch up with their work, or enjoy the lovely day outside. Enjoy your Friday, students!" Dumbledore waved dramatically before sitting down to furious teachers. He picked up his fork delicately and began to eat an odd looking concoction, but at this point no one seemed to care what he was doing.

"Okay, this is awesome! I know what we need to do. Now that we have our lovely Paws back, let's do Quidditch tryouts. Our first game is coming soon and we haven't been able to pick our team because you fucking hit your head," James stands up and begins yelling at the Gryffindor table, "yo, guys! We're running Quidditch tryouts in an hour and a half! We need two new chasers! So come on! Tryout or I beat the bloody pulp out of you!" James smiled wickedly before leaving the table, to which the rest of the Marauders seemed confused about.

"He didn't finish eating," Peter said, staring at the practically full plate across from him.

"I know, what's up with that?" Elizabeth said, raising an eyebrow. Before anyone else could question the food, Elizabeth leaned over and stabbed her fork into James plate of eggs, eating it hungrily.

"Something tells me James is gonna be pissed," Sirius laughed as he leaned back slightly, watching Elizabeth shrug.

"James can bite me," Elizabeth smiled and continued to eat his food, stuffing her face so she could be completely ready to judge little third years trying out for the Quidditch team.

"Alright, here's the deal. Everyone is going to run a lap around the field individually first, we're going to time you. Then, one by one, we'll send you up with Stanley who will be testing beaters and chasers on their skills. We'll be watching from down here and tallying up everyone's scores. Within ten minutes after tryouts end, we'll be able to tell you who made the team and who didn't, and an official list will be up tonight of the entire team. Got it, chumps?" James said slightly aggressively, nodding at all of the students in Quidditch gear. As Elizabeth had guessed, most of the students trying out were third and fourth years, with the occasional sixth year who obviously had little experience doing actual games.

As everyone nodded back at James, he began instructing each of them to run around the field. He took out his timer and began timing them, yelling at them if they weren't going fast enough or if they were about to me moronic and run into a rock or something of that sort.

"I am so glad I never had to tryout under James administration," Elizabeth whispered to Sirius, watching as James gave a glare to a second year who made it around the track, only to trip over his own shoe lace four feet before he reached James. Someone might have thought James was going to pick the kid up by the neck and give him a beating.

"He's brutal. Something tells me he's going to be worse than McKinley," Elizabeth shuddered at Sirius's comment. Of course Sirius nor James had been on the team when McKinley was captain - this was when Elizabeth made the team first year - but they came to watch her during many of her tryouts and heard the stories. Elizabeth was pummeled into the ground by him on multiple occasions and his all time favorite thing to do was to drag her out of bed at 2 in the morning while it was raining and make her run laps in the mud.

"God, I hope not. That was the worst year of my life," Elizabeth shook her head and looked back at the kids running. She laughed heartily at their effort to keep up with James, who seemed to be a good 20 feet ahead of all of them.

"If he pulls any of this shit with us, I'm gonna cut his family jewel's off," Elizabeth told Sirius seriously, who's eyes bulged and began laughing at Elizabeth.

"You're so adorable," He spoke in a carefree tone, pulling Elizabeth by her hand and kissing her lightly on the lips.

"I'm not so adorable when I actually put my plans into action," She spoke as she wrapped her arms around Sirius's neck. He smirked and nodded in agreement, then kissed her passionately.

"Hey, stop it! Not on the pitch! Go get to work or something!" James yelled as he passed by the kissing couple, who pulled away only to glare at their friend.

"Prongs, bugger off and I'll put in a good word for you to Lily!" Elizabeth said and James stopped dead in his tracks. By now, the group of runners behind him had caught up, so when he halted suddenly they crashed into him and knocked him over, creating quite the doggy-pile on the Quidditch pitch.

Elizabeth and Sirius burst out laughing, not bothering to go help them. James crawled out from under a third year - who he shoved quite brutally - "You would do that?"

"Only if you bugger off, mate," Elizabeth said before turning around to kiss Sirius yet again, who was smiling widely. The two heard James mutter some swear words before yelling at everyone trying out and getting Stanley to began testing them.

"Excuse me," A voice spoke to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who was busy watching James and Sirius throw quaffle balls at two fourth years, turned around. A boy - probably a sixth or seventh year in Elizabeth's opinion - was smiling at her as he held a younger boy's hand who looked like a second year. Both boys had lush brunette hair that covered their striking brown eyes only slightly. The older boy was wearing his tie lightly around his neck and had a 'I've slept with many girls' before type of aura, to which Elizabeth wanted to laugh at.

"Yes, how can I help you?" Elizabeth glanced at Stanley who was standing beside her and handed him the tally sheet so she could talk to the two boys.

"Sorry that we're late, it's my fault, really, but this is my brother, Scottie," The smaller boy waved with the hand that didn't hold his unusually large broom and Elizabeth smiled down at him sweetly, "and he wanted to try out for the team."

"Uhm, yeah, okay, give me one second." Elizabeth turned around and searched through the air to find James. Once she finally found him, she screamed loudly, "James, get down here!"

James flew down within a matter of seconds and jogged over to Elizabeth, sweat dripping off his forehead. Elizabeth glanced at the two boys before speaking.

"This is Scottie," she said, gesturing to the smaller boy, "and he wants to try out for the team."

"How old are you, Scottie?" James raised his eyebrow and wiped off beads of sweat with his shirt.

"Twelve," Scottie said sweetly, "I'm a second year."

James and Elizabeth eyed each other skeptically. His bone structure was minuscule, to say the least, and he seemed way to innocent to possibly play any parts on a Quidditch team. Both knew the statistics - most players didn't make the team until their fourth or fifth years- and they felt like possibly telling him that he could try out might break down his hopes.

"What position do you usually play?" James asked Scottie.

"Beater. But of course, chaser is good," Yet again, Elizabeth and James's worries were confirmed. They couldn't believe he would make the team.

"Well, Scottie, maybe you should wait-" James began to say kindly but the older brother stepped in.

"He's really good. Trust me, I know the fact that anyone under a fourth year never make the team. Except for Elizabeth, and you and Sirius, of course," He winked at Elizabeth, who blushed and looked at the ground, feeling awkward for the attention and the fact he appeared to be flirting with her, "but I really think he has talent. I wouldn't let him try out if I didn't think he could make it. He knows he probably won't make it. Just give him a chance,"

Elizabeth and James looked at each other before James spoke, "Elizabeth, it's your call."

'My call?' Elizabeth thought in her head, giving James the glare. He was the captain; he was supposed to make the decisions. 'Bloody hell,' Elizabeth took a deep breath before speaking, "Alright, Scottie. Go do one lap around the field and then meet James in the air. Okay?"

Scottie smiled at his big brother, who high-fived him, and thanked Elizabeth before running off with his broom to do his lap.

"I'm gonna finish testing the chasers, is Stanley keeping tab? Yo, Stan!" James patted Elizabeth on the back before walking the two feet to talk to Stanley quickly before flying into the air.

"Thanks for letting him try out. This means the world to him," The older brother said gratefully as he stood next to Elizabeth, watching a third year by the name of Joey Ashcraft pass the quaffle to Sirius.

"No problem. Everyone deserves a chance," Elizabeth said and smiled.

"Anthony Taylor," The boy stuck his hand out and smiled at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth Evans," She said as she shook his hand. Anthony laughed heartily at her.

"I know who you are. Heck, everyone knows who you are," Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and tilted her head at Anthony, slightly confused at his comment, "well, you made the Quidditch team first year. Which was all over the Daily Prophet. You're also part of The Marauders, play more pranks than anyone I've ever met, and are definitely the most attractive girl in the school."

Elizabeth blushed again and looked at the ground, feeling awkward about all of the attention and sweet comments he was saying, "Well, thanks,"

"Of course," Anthony said, glancing up and down at Elizabeth before looking at his brother and cheering him on.

Elizabeth was surprised at the amount of talent within the house. Everyone was within just several points of each other and it was a hard decision for who to cut and who to keep. Surprisingly, James, Sirius, and Elizabeth decided to keep Scottie, who turned out to be an extraordinary Quidditch player. He didn't miss a single ball and actually scored many points.

"Alright, here's our list. I repeat: we have one chaser and one beater positions. This was a hard decision, but here it is. Our two new chasers are Joey Ashcraft and... Scottie Taylor," Everyone clapped for the two new team members, however many looked angry and pushed over their brooms, "I will post the list of all of the members and all of the practices and games up until the end of the season. Our first practice is next Wednesday, but I suggest you practice individually before then. Our first game is in two weeks. Get in shape, people! No slacking or you're cut and replaced!" James walked away and Elizabeth smiled and re-clapped for all of the new teammates. As Elizabeth walked off to go change and meet Sirius and James for lunch when she was suddenly grabbed.

"Hey, thanks for putting him on the team. I know it means more to him than you can ever imagine," Anthony smiled brightly, his white teeth glittering in the sun. Elizabeth nodded and smiled back.

"Kid deserves it. And it wasn't me as much as James, he makes all of the final decisions. Sirius and I are just his right hand men... Erm, man and woman," Elizabeth smiled, "he can go into the history books as being the fourth first year to ever make the Hogwarts Quidditch team,"

"He sure can. I hope to see you later, Elizabeth," Anthony smiled and caught up with his brother, picking him up and swinging him around. Elizabeth smiled and walked off to go take a shower and change, happy with herself.

Elizabeth was glad to sit with her friends in the room of requirement for the first time all year. The Marauders, in celebration of picking a fantastic Quidditch team, decided to sneak into the room of requirement with some butterbeer and firewhisky, along with lots of treats the house-elves were bringing them and celebrate. James, Remus, and Peter were all talking loudly and playing music, talking and laughing about girls while Sirius and Elizabeth cuddled on the couch. Sirius drank a small glass of firewhisky - to which Elizabeth took occasional sips out of - and breathed deeply with Elizabeth smelling in his cologne.

"Padfoot, why don't we know anything about your brother?" Elizabeth asked as she twisted her head up to look him in the eye. Sirius looked at her sadly before clearing his throat and answering her.

"I don't really like to talk about it," Sirius said as he readjusted himself, but making sure to not move Elizabeth too much.

"Yeah, but we've all been friends with you for five years now and we don't know anything about him," Elizabeth said and Sirius sighed.

"He's only a third year. Just turned 13, but he's a smart kid. I don't talk to him and he's not very popular; which is why you haven't seen him around. He's cute sometimes, but my mum and dad have really managed to corrupt him. He's saying 'mudblood' all the time and practicing illegal magic and the unforgivable curses on animals and stuff. I think he would be a good kid, but my parents really polluted him," Sirius said and Elizabeth nodded in understanding.

"Maybe one day he'll understand," Elizabeth tried to say positively, but Sirius shook his head.

"I doubt it, Liz," Sirius said before kissing Elizabeth's forehead.

"There's always hope," She spoke and cuddled up further into Sirius's chest, kissing the bare skin lightly.

"I know," He said quietly before closing his eyes, wondering if there really was any hope.


	16. Cute Gestures and Angry James

The girl's dormitory was incredibly loud, which aggravated Elizabeth to no end. She moved her fluffy pillow over her head and groaned loudly to try and block out the fluttering noise of girls beyond her curtain. However, with her eyes slightly open, she could see the curtain pull back. Angry, Elizabeth sat up and was ready to yell at everyone before she realized there were flowers... Everywhere.

"What the bloody hell?" Elizabeth questioned as she rubbed her eyes, checking her vision: no, there were definitely vases full of flowers all around the room. She looked at them individually; they ranged in colors and types. Her favorites were stargazer lilies - which reminded her of her sister - and they seemed to be in all of the vases with the occasional sprinkle of roses and violets.

"What the hell is this?" Elizabeth repeated and the girls around her began giggling yet again. She looked at who was in the room: Lily, Mary MacDonald, Marlene McKinnon, Aurelia, and Vickie Brooks, "can someone please fill me in?"

"Look," Aurelia said before smiling again and nudging a tired, yet excited Mary MacDonald who laughed even more. Elizabeth turned around to her nightstand, where Aurelia was looking, and there was a note. More than a note, actually: it was a very delicately wrapped letter. She picked it up and saw her name written in cursive and flipped it around, gently peeling off the stamp to open the letter. She pulled it out of the envelope and began unfolding it to read, when Marlene interrupted her thoughts.

"Read it out loud!" Marlene said excitedly as she sat on the edge of her bed, leaning toward Elizabeth with great enthusiasm. Elizabeth prevented herself from rolling her eyes dramatically before clearing her throat and beginning to read the handwriting she greatly recognized.

"Dear Ms. Elizabeth Evans,

Please meet me downstairs when you receive this. Follow the trail.

Sincerely,

S.A.B"

The girls in the room giggled even louder as Elizabeth wondered what trail Sirius could have possibly left. As Elizabeth stood up to go downstairs, Marlene began talking.

"You're going down looking like that?" She asked skeptically and Elizabeth looked at herself in the grand mirror across the room. Indeed, she didn't look her bed. Her blond hair was a little frizzy and she was still in her pjs; a pair of loose polka dot pajama pants and a tight blank tank top. Elizabeth was glad she had washed off what little makeup she had worn the night before so her complexion still looked clear. Elizabeth didn't see the problem.

"Eh, he's seen me worse," Elizabeth shrugged and began walking down the stairs, hearing the other girls in their pajamas follow her down. They whispered amongst each other and laughed as if this was the best thing that ever happened. Elizabeth desperately wanted to turn around and smack them all - or better yet, shove them down the stairs - but resisted the urge, knowing McGonagall would just possibly kill her.

Once Elizabeth reached the last step, she saw a trail of golden wrapped chocolate coins leading to the middle of the common room. She smiled widely: man, that boy knew her weak spot. She followed the trail and soon saw Sirius, standing in the middle of the room with a Black-Eyed Susan. He looked incredibly sexy for early in the morning to her - his hair in its usual disarray, but he was decorated beautifully in a midnight tux. She glided over to him and smiled.

"What's all of this about?" Elizabeth asked as she stared into his intoxicating smoky eyes. Sirius smiled knowingly and glanced at the girls behind Elizabeth, who were now completely silent, before handing Elizabeth the flower.

"This is for you," Elizabeth took it, making sure to graze his hand gently as she did, and smiled.

"As if I didn't already have enough," She joked and Sirius let out his characterized, bark-like laugh, "now really, what is all of this about? I mean, not that I don't appreciate the pampering..."

"Professor Dumbledore announced at breakfast this morning that there's going to be a Halloween ball this year," Sirius said and Elizabeth's eyes bulged out.

"I missed breakfast? What? No one woke me up! What the bloody hell-" Elizabeth said, extremely unhappy that she had not been able to eat her favorite meal of the day, but Sirius interuptted her.

"I already have that covered, love," Sirius said as he gestured toward a table in front of the couch. Elizabeth looked over and to her graciousness, there were plates and plates of food and a pitcher of orange juice.

"Oh, thank God," Elizabeth said, placing a hand over her heart. Now that her food crisis was over, she realized what Sirius had actually said, "a ball, huh?"

Sirius nodded, "A Halloween ball,"

"And what does that have to do with me?" Elizabeth said flirtatiously as she ran a hand through her hair. Sirius smiled slightly.

"I wanted to invite you to go with me; as my date," Sirius spoke and Elizabeth looked sideways and put a hand on her chin, pretending to think.

"Hmmm, I don't know, I think Lucius Malfoy already invited me," She spoke and Sirius rolled his eyes at her.

"I thought you just woke up," Elizabeth laughed at Sirius and took a step forward to him, kissing him deeply on the lips. Sirius responded almost immediately by placing his hands on her hips and holding them tightly while Elizabeth ran her hands through his hair. Suddenly, she pulled away.

"Okay, I'll go with you. As your date," Elizabeth smiled, "but only because you brought me chocolate,"

"Sounds like a good deal to me," Sirius whispered, his eyes glazed over. He bent his head down once again to kiss her and Elizabeth laughed into the kiss.

After Sirius and Elizabeth ate breakfast, they were soon joined by Remus, James, and Peter, who had already collected the trails of chocolate and organized the flowers within Elizabeth's dorm room.

"Elizabeth, you and I should go to the library to study, seeing as you are the only one motivated enough to go with me," Remus spoke as the Marauders sat on the couch, talking about what they should do that day.

"For a little while, sure. I think I have most of my homework done," Elizabeth said as she stretched her arms above her head, yawning.

"Still tired, Paws?" Peter asked and Elizabeth nodded.

"A little bit. I don't know why," Elizabeth shrugged and noticed Remus looked a little beaten up as well, "shit! Full moon is like, four days away. I totally forgot, Moony,"

"I don't think you should go, Elizabeth," James said to Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked at him and glared strongly.

"Why? I missed the first one because I was in the stupid hospital wing and I'm not missing the second one. I want to try out my animagus powers and I want to help Remus," Elizabeth said roughly, but Remus agreed.

"Elizabeth, that's our point. You just got out of the hospital wing. Look, it was rough. Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail all got some nasty bruises. It's not just a fun thing," Remus said and Elizabeth's glare worsened.

"I'm not a moron, Moony. I know that, but I'm not some weak little girl. I want to be there," Elizabeth glared at the rest of the Marauders, tempting them to argue with her.

"Elizabeth," Sirius pleaded and Elizabeth shoved him.

"I'm going whether you want me to or not. I'm perfectly fine; if I wasn't, Poppy wouldn't have let me out of the hospital wing if she had thought I was going to pass out or something ridiculous. I'm going," Elizabeth spoke harshly. Seconds passed and finally, the boys admitted defeat: she was going whether they wanted her to or not.

"Well boys-" Elizabeth began to speak before a loud running came down the girls staircase. Lily and Marlene McKinnon came down the stairs, laughing as they approached Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, lets go to Hogsmeade," Lily said perkily as she smiled. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" She said slowly, looking at the two girls.

"We just thought we should have a little girl time," Marlene answered and Lily nodded in agreement. Elizabeth looked at the boys before looking back at her sister and her friend.

"Well, okay, I guess," Elizabeth shrugged and stood up, "I'm gonna go change,"

Everyone nodded and Lily and Marlene sat on the couch next to the boys, chatting amongst themselves as Elizabeth walked slowly up the stairs, wondering what her sister was up to.

Elizabeth quickly used some charms to put on makeup and let her hair unfrizz as she put on a pair of white skinny jeans and a loose top with different swirling patterns. She ran back downstairs and saw The Marauders attempting to engage in conversation with the girls, who seemed intent on ignoring them.

"Okay, let's go. Bye guys, I'll see you whenever I get unkidnapped," Elizabeth smiled and followed the girls out of the porthole and into the hallway.

"Okay, really now, what are we doing?" Elizabeth questioned as the girls linked arms with her and strutted through the castle.

"Well, you need a dress," Lily said.

"A dress?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"For the ball, of course. You're going to need a dress," Marlene said knowingly, looking at Elizabeth as if her eyes had just bulged out of her head.

"The ball is in two weeks, though. Shouldn't I wait to get a dress? What if I gain weight or lose an arm or something?" Elizabeth said and Lily rolled her eyes.

"We're going to do it now, because I know you're going to have Quidditch practice all next weekend," Lily said knowingly and Elizabeth realized that Lily was, indeed, correct.

"This is going to be hell," Elizabeth muttered as she watched her feet pound against the ground, kicking rocks as they went.

"How about this one?" Lily questioned as she pulled out a dress. Elizabeth gagged as she stared down the puffy blue dress. The ruffles and the halter top would make her look as if she was a purple iced cupcake.

"Yeah, if I want to look like I'm a fluff-ball," Elizabeth said as she leaned against the wall, sighing dramatically. This was possibly the 100th dress Lily had pulled out of the fourth store and Elizabeth had denied.

"Elizabeth, we really don't know what you want. You don't like any of the dresses we've suggested! I mean, it's been hours and Lily and I have already picked out our dresses!" Marlene spoke as she searched through another rack of pink dresses, attempting to find one that satisfied Elizabeth.

It was true, Lily and Marlene both found dresses they loved. Lily picked a beautiful ivory strapless dress, while Marlene picked one that was purple and sexy, hugging tightly at her chest and waist. Elizabeth liked both of the dresses on her friends, but she just couldn't find one she liked.

Elizabeth backed up from off of the wall and sighed, walking over to the other side of the petite dress shop. She lazily moved her hand through dresses, not really giving any a look, thinking she couldn't possibly find anything today. However, she suddenly felt a silk fabric and looked down: and she knew she had found it.

She pulled the dress off of the rack and held it up in the air by its hanger to get a look at it. Indeed, it was a beautiful dress. A silver ball gown, without the intense flaring at the bottom. It wasn't strapless or a halter top like the ones Lily and Marlene picked out, but had both of the straps which were thin, but not too thin, that covered about half of her shoulder. It had a slight layer near the bottom of the dress that caused light creases to roll down it. The bust part was imbedded with delicate jewels and pearls which sparkled as the light hit them.

Elizabeth smiled, imaging herself wearing it. Before she could even picture it, Lily had walked over and seen it.

"Oh, Lizzy, it's so beautiful! Go try it on!" Lily encouraged Elizabeth, lightly shoving her in the direction of the dressing rooms. Elizabeth complied without objection, and quickly tried it out. When she came out, both Marlene and Lily were standing, waiting.

"Wow, it's absolutely beautiful," Marlene breathed as she looked at the dress. Elizabeth twirled around and looked at herself in the mirror. She loved the way it hugged her body but still had the light Cinderella feel she had always wanted when she was a little girl. She smiled as she touched the fabric, knowing she had found the dress she wanted.

"Let me pay for it and let's get out of here," Elizabeth said, quickly running into the dressing room to strip and get the 'heck out of dodge' as she would later put it.

"So you had fun?" James asked that night over dinner. However, it came out more in mumbles as he shoved spoonfuls of macaroni and mashed potatoes in his mouth. Luckily, after years of dealing with James, Elizabeth was able to understand what he was saying.

"Yeah, it was okay. Marlene is a little too bubbly for me, but I had a good time. I still remember why I hang out with guys, though," Elizabeth shrugged and grinned at her mate. James nodded.

"I think I'm going to ask Lily to the Halloween Ball," James said and the rest of the Marauders exchanged a knowing glance.

"James, I don't think that's such a great idea," Peter said gently, causing James to glare back.

"Why not? It's the ball! She won't want to go alone," James said and Remus shook his head, sighing.

"Prongs, how many years have you been asking her out to everything and getting rejected? I think it's time to, you know, give her some space," Remus said and James shook his head in disagreement.

"No, you're wrong Moony. You see, she's just playing hard to get. She likes it when I ask," James said with convincing authority, but Sirius shook his head.

"No, mate, she really hates your guts," James glared at Sirius before sighing and looking at Elizabeth.

"Well, what do you think?" James asked. Elizabeth shifted awkwardly in her seat before looking around.

"James, you can't tell anyone," She leaned forward and James raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," He said.

"No, I'm serious. You can't tell anyone. Lily made me promise not to say anything," Elizabeth spoke and James nodded, trying to encourage her to go on, "Lily's dating someone."

James dropped his fork and stared at Elizabeth with an open mouth, "Who?"

"Amos Diggory," Elizabeth whispered and she would have thought James was about to explode. Suddenly, James stood up and stormed off. Elizabeth thought he was headed to yell at Lily at the other end of the table, so she screamed out, "James, don't!" James continued to walk right past Lily and stormed out of the Great Hall.

"Shit, I fucked that one up," Elizabeth spoke quietly and hung her head. Sirius put an arm around her and kissed her head.

"No, you didn't," Sirius said, "although none of us knew,"

"I told you, she wanted it to be a secret. I'm sure it will come out when they go to the ball together," Elizabeth said, sighing. She glanced at Lily who was giving her a 'What just happened look?' and Elizabeth responded with a 'I'll tell you later' glance. Lily nodded before turning back to another fifth year and talking avidly.

"I should go talk to him," Elizabeth said, standing up.

"Do you want the map?" Peter asked, pulling out a blank piece of parchment to hand to Elizabeth. Elizabeth nodded and grabbed it, putting it in her pocket.

"Thanks, Wormtail. I'll see you mates later," Elizabeth said kindly before walking off, ready to find her friend.


	17. Thoughts

Once Elizabeth reached an empty corridor, she opened up the map. Most of the figures were all in the Great Hall, so she knew it wouldn't take too long to find out where James had gone. Elizabeth's eyes scanned over the paper, searching and searching, before she finally found him. He was walking through the Defense Against The Dark Arts hallway: and that was when Elizabeth noticed who was only two hallways away.

"Oh, shit," Elizabeth swore as she began running as fast as her feet would carry her toward James. He wasn't far away - the hallway was unbelievably close - so it wasn't long until her footsteps echoed and James could hear her. He turned around, only to be met with a panting Elizabeth running toward her.

"James, don't do this," Elizabeth breathed, trying to catch her breath. James looked at her for only a moment before moving past her and opening a door into an empty classroom.

Amos Diggory was standing in the middle of the classroom, seemingly practicing charms as he lifted various objects with his stubby wand. When the door burst open, he turned around rapidly and saw James, to which he smiled widely.

"Hello, mate," Amos said as he put down the chair he was hovering in the air. He leaned against the desk, waiting for James to say something. Elizabeth watched in horror as James approached Amos, taking out his wand and holding it up to Amos's throat.

"James, don't," Elizabeth repeated, getting ready to pull out her wand and hex her friend into oblivion. However, James surprised her. He put his wand down, but continued to stare at a terrified Amos.

"Don't hurt her," James said strongly and a look of understanding suddenly crossed Amos's face. He nodded in agreement.

"I won't," He said and James nodded, holding out his right hand to shake Amos's hand. Amos complied and pulled away after several seconds, turning around to continue practicing. As James turned around and walked toward a sad-smiling Elizabeth, Amos spoke, "She's a great girl, mate,"

James paused, looking down at the floor, debating what to say. "I know," he whispered before walking past Elizabeth and going out of the classroom.

Elizabeth followed him out and closed the door, walking to James and holding his hand. They walked out of the hallway in silence until Elizabeth finally chose to spoke, "That was good of you, mate,"

James nodded, "I know,"

"How did you find him, though?" Elizabeth wondered, considering that she had had the map; and before her, Peter.

"I asked one of his friends that I ran into on the way up to the dormitory. I wasn't planning on finding Amos, until I ran into the Hufflenerd," James said and Elizabeth nodded, squeezing his hand.

"Want to go back to the Great Hall to finish eating?" Elizabeth asked and James shook his head.

"I think I'd rather go up to the tower," James spoke quietly.

"Can I come with?" Elizabeth asked and James nodded, but didn't say anything else. Elizabeth decided it was best to leave the situation alone, so as James and Elizabeth ascended the staircase, she chose it was best to stay silent. When they finally reached the common room, James didn't say a word as he ascended the boys staircase, leaving Elizabeth to be alone in the common room.

Elizabeth sighed and pushed herself down onto the couch nearest to her, placing her head in her hands. She felt bad - really bad. It was as if she had taken all hope from her best friend. She had yet to understand why Lily wouldn't just give James a chance and go out with him; but at this point, it seemed like that might never happen.

"Bad day?" A voice spoke, causing Elizabeth to look up. Elizabeth was automatically met with a set of heavenly brown eyes. Elizabeth sighed.

"No, just a bad dinner," Elizabeth spoke to Anthony, appreciative for the company.

"Want to talk about it?" Anthony asked her and Elizabeth sighed again, shaking her head as she ultimately decided against it.

"I can't, not yet at least," Elizabeth said and Anthony gave her a look of awareness.

"Something with your sister?" He asked and Elizabeth laughed, leaning against the couch.

"There are only two things James gets mad about: Quidditch and Lily," Elizabeth laughed again as she closed her eyes, rubbing them.

"The two really belong together," Anthony said and Elizabeth opened one eye, giving a look of disbelief to Anthony.

"Why would you possibly say that? Lily hates his guts," Elizabeth spoke and Anthony shrugged.

"I don't think she really does. I think she likes it, the attention he gives her. Otherwise, there's no reason for her to get as upset as she does. I think they'd be great together: the popular trouble maker and the beautiful goody-goody. Their personalities compliment each other," Elizabeth contemplated his words carefully, eventually agreeing with him. It was true: they would cancel each other out.

"Only if James takes his pride down a couple notches and Lils stops being so damn stuck up," Elizabeth said, sighing at the fact that they both seemed unable to change their ways.

"They'll get over it. I'm sure it'll take some time, but they'll get over it," Anthony said and Elizabeth smiled gently.

"I hope so," Elizabeth looked at Anthony, "so is Scottie excited to be on the team?"

Anthony smiled widely and nodded, "He is more excited than anything. He's been out practicing all day,"

"Well, make sure he doesn't overwork himself. He's a good kid," Elizabeth said and Anthony smiled with much appreciation.

"I like to think we raised him right," Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"'We'?"

"My mother died when I was about eight, making Scottie only 2. My dad and I really raised him; we tried to keep him safe," Anthony said and Elizabeth looked at him with a sad face.

"I'm sorry. That must have been really hard on you," Anthony shrugged in response, looking down at the ground and twittering his fingers.

"It's okay, things happen," Anthony said. Just as Elizabeth was about to respond, the common room door opened and Elizabeth turned around to see who had walked in.

"Hey," Elizabeth said shyly as a smile spread across her face at the sight of who had walked in. Sirius began walking toward her, smiling as well as he locked eyes with her.

"Hey," He said, equally as shyly, as he bent over to give her a kiss on the lips. As he pulled away, he noticed Anthony.

"Oh, hey there. I'm Sirius. Sirius Black," Sirius extended his hand to Anthony, who took it, and sat down next to Elizabeth.

"Anthony Taylor," Anthony said. Sirius's eyes lit up.

"Oh, yeah! Your brother made the Quidditch team. Scottie, right? Bloody brilliant," Sirius praised, causing Anthony to smile.

"He's a good kid," Anthony spoke, repeating the words Elizabeth had said earlier. Elizabeth smiled slightly.

"So what year are you, Anthony? I don't think I've seen you around much," Sirius spoke as he intertwined his fingers with Elizabeth, who gladly leaned against his shoulder as she listened to the conversation.

"I'm a sixth year. I'm mostly friends with Ravenclaws, maybe why you haven't seen me around," Sirius nodded at him, thinking it over.

"Why didn't you try out for the team?"

"I'm not very good at Quidditch, or flying for that matter. Scottie got the good genes," Anthony jokes and Sirius cracked a smile, nodding, "well, I better be off. I should finish my homework. I'll see you both around. Sirius, Elizabeth," Anthony acknowledged both of them as he stood up.

"Nice to meet you, Anthony," Sirius said as Elizabeth smiled at Anthony, waving good bye. He began to walk off and out of the common room, leaving Elizabeth and Sirius alone.

"Why hello there," Sirius said in a sultry voice before leaning forward and kissing Elizabeth with intensity. Elizabeth smiled into the kiss, pulling him closer as her lips responded, moving against his with more force than usual. Their tongues moved against each other, their lips connecting with fireworks until eventually they pulled away, both grinning like little children.

"Hello," Elizabeth said and Sirius laughed at her, pulling her onto his chest as he laid down on the couch.

"Found James?" Sirius asked Elizabeth as he ran his hands through her hair.

"I did. I thought he was going to kill Amos, but surprisingly he didn't," Sirius raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"He's probably upset. Should I go talk to him?" Sirius asked and Elizabeth thought it over for a moment.

"I honestly don't know. He seemed like he didn't want to talk last time I saw him,"

"Well," Sirius started, stumbling over his words, "I think that maybe I should talk to him.

"Okay," Elizabeth said, getting off of Sirius's chest, "I'm going to go to the owlery. I think I should write some letters,"

"Who to?" Sirius asked, getting off of the couch as well.

"Well, my mother and father. And Petunia. And to my grandparents in Austria,"

"I didn't know you had grandparents in Austria," Sirius spoke, raising an eyebrow.

"You didn't? Huh, that's weird. I guess it just never came up in conversation. Yeah, they're German. They can't speak English, so I know German. We used to go every summer to their cottage in the mountains, but then they decided they were getting too old and wanted to travel the world with their savings, so we haven't seen them in a couple years. I really miss them, so I should write to them,"

"Do they know about you being a witch?" Sirius questioned and Elizabeth shook her head.

"No, which is why I'm going to send it to my mum and have her mail it off. They think Lily and I are at some state-of-the-art boarding school. They don't know why Petunia isn't there, so Petunia has been lying saying that she didn't want to go," Elizabeth said, hanging her head, thinking of all of the times Petunia wrote Headmaster Dumbledore to try and get into Hogwarts.

"Oh, well, have fun writing to them. I'll see you later, love," Sirius kissed Elizabeth's forehead before heading up the boys' dormitory staircase.

"What should I say?" Elizabeth spoke to herself as she sat at a broken desk in the owlery, quill in hand, debating what to say to her parents. She felt like she hadn't talked to them in a long time - and she doubted that Lily had told them about her accident that ended her up in the Hospital Wing, or they would have contacted Dumbledore and found a way to come straight to Hogwarts.

_Dear mum and dad,_

_ I'm sorry that it's been so incredibly long since I have contacted you. I have been busy with school work - and yes, I actually have been busy with school work. I've only received two detentions so far: a new personal record! _

_ My classes are interesting this year. I'm taking the usual - defense against the dark arts, potions, charms, history of magic, herbology, and transfiguration - but also a class called divination, which studies the use of telepathy and psychic abilities. It's actually really fascinating, but I think the teacher is kind of a nut. I'm going to start arithmancy next semester, which is pretty much muggle arithmetic, except different, dealing with numbers and what not. You need it to be able to become a healer._

_ Now, don't freak out, but I had a bit of an accident. I was at a music shop and passed out and hit my head. I was in the hospital wing for three weeks - but now I'm out, so don't freak out! I'm really okay, I just had a slight concussion. I'm back in school and didn't miss any work, thankfully. There's no need to worry. They think I was just dehydrated._

_ Lily told me you wrote her and that Petunia is getting married. I was really surprised - what is his name, Vernon? I can't believe it, she's so young. Is she still planning on college? Is she pregnant, is this why she's getting married? I seriously doubt it, but I just can't believe she would want to settle down so fast. I'm going to write her, too. _

_ How is it at home? How are your jobs? Is everything going okay? I miss you, and I'll be home at Christmas._

_ I love you,_

_ Elizabeth _

_P.S: I'm going to attach another letter that I want you to give to grandma and gramps. I hope we can see them this summer, I miss them - and Austria - terribly. Es ist ein schönes Land, Mutter. Vergewissern Sie bitte, dass sich Petunie ihnen, auch schreibt. Ich vergewissere mich, dass Lilie sie schreibt: wo sind sie jetzt, Australien? Ich weiß nicht, aber ich bin sicher, herauszufinden!*_

_P.S.S: Oh, one more thing... I'm dating Sirius._

_Dear Petunia,_

_ I know that you will not respond to this letter, but I felt it was necessary to write you. I still love you, after all._

_ I heard you are getting married. Congratulations! However, I am a little worried about you getting married right out of high school. You do love him, right? He isn't pressuring you? And he better treat you right, or I'll go out there and hex him to the point where he can't see straight._

_ If you don't want me to be a bridesmaid, that's okay. I'm fine with sitting in the audience. I just want to be able to see you get married, sis. You deserve happiness._

_ How is school? What classes are you taking this year? I hope you don't have Ms. Bettlebop; Candance told me she was awful. Do you know where you are going to college? I bet you'll get into somewhere amazing, like Cambridge or Oxford, with the grades you have. How's soccer going? When does the season start? I can never seem to keep track of that. _

_ School is good here. I'm dating Sirius - have been for about a month. It's weird having a boyfriend, but he treats me well and I'm really happy with him. I've only had two detentions so far, but the pranks certainly haven't stopped. I'm going to pick up some sweets before I come back during Christmas; things I think you would like._

_ I'll see you at Christmas, sis,_

_ Elizabeth_

_Liebe Großmama und Papa,_

_Ratet mal, wer? Ich vermisse dich so sehr, ich weiß, ich habe nicht so lange geschrieben - seit dem Frühsommer, wahrscheinlich - aber ich habe mich so unglaublich beschäftigt mit Freunden und immer bereit für die Schule, die ich gerade vergessen. Doch hier bin ich, schreibe Dir!_

_Ich sagte Mama, dass ich dich zu sehen in diesem Sommer hoffen. Wo bist du jetzt zwei? Wie wird das Reisen? Senden Sie mir wieder Bilder, ich kann nicht warten, um zu sehen!_

_Ich bin eine gute Zeit in der Schule. Ich vermisse meine Familie und Freunde zu Hause, aber Lily und ich haben eine gute Zeit mit Klassen. Wir nehmen eine Verteidigung Klasse, auch - wir lernen viel, wie wir uns vor Feinden zu verteidigen. Es ist faszinierend Zeug!_

_Hast du das gehört Petunia immer verheiratet ist? Ich war unglaublich überrascht. Werden Sie bei der Hochzeit? Oh, ich hoffe es!_

_Sowieso muss ich gehen: Ich glaube, ich habe einige Hausaufgaben zu erledigen._

_Ich liebe dich, Mama und Papa,_

_Elizabeth**_

Elizabeth was glad that she was finally able to send off the letters with her owl. As Elizabeth watched Kacey fly off with the letters, she thought about how much she missed her old cat, Banter. Banter had died last year from cancer, and Elizabeth missed having a cat significantly. Elizabeth decided on the stop that tomorrow, her and her friends would sneak off of to Hogsmeade and buy her a cat. She needed a new friend.

_It is a beautiful country, mama. Please make sure Petunia writes to them, too. I'll make sure Lily writes them: where are they now, Australia? I don't know, but I'm sure to find out!_

_** Dear grandmama and papa,_

_Guess who? I miss you so much; I know I haven't written in so long - since early summer, probably - but I have been so incredibly busy with friends and getting ready for school that I just forgot. Yet here I am, writing you! _

_I told mum that I hope to see you this summer. Where are you two now? How is the traveling? Send me back pictures, I can't wait to see! _

_I am having a good time at school. I miss my family and friends at home, but Lily and I are having a good time with classes. We're taking a defense class, too - we're learning a lot how to defend ourselves from enemies. It's fascinating stuff!_

_Did you hear that Petunia is getting married? I was incredibly surprised. Will you be at the wedding? Oh, I hope so! _

_Anyways, I must be going: I think I have some homework to do._

_I love you, mama and papa,_

_Elizabeth_


	18. The Best Ever

"Paws, it's 9 in the morning, it's bloody snowing outside, and you want to go buy a cat?" James asked in disbelief as he, Elizabeth, Remus, Sirius, and Peter stood outside the grand doors to leave Hogwarts. Elizabeth had woken them up early, forced breakfast she had gotten from the house elves down their throats, and dragged them there; to which she was now just telling them what to do. Indeed, it was early for them on a Sunday - they didn't like waking up before 11 or 12 on Sundays - and not to mention the fact that the snow was definitely piling at great speed.

"Prongs, please! I really want to go! I know it's snowing but it's not even that long of a walk; it takes longer to go from the tunnel to Hogsmeade then it does to just walk outside," Elizabeth pleaded, looking at James. James rolled his eyes and sighed.

"No way. If I get sick, or if you get sick, or Sirius before we were stupid and walked out in the snow to get a bloody cat and one of us misses practice, I'm going to be furious to the point of no return," James said, "and if the sickness lasts longer and you miss both the game Friday and the ball Saturday, I just might have to kill you,"

"James, we're not going to get sick!" Elizabeth said in disbelief as she looked at her friends for help: however, none of them seemed that excited to go to Hogsmeade in this weather.

"I'll go with her," Remus said suddenly, sending a smile to Elizabeth. Elizabeth smiled widely and jumped onto Remus, giving him a huge with plenty of 'thank you's.

"Fine, but Paws, if you get sick you're off the team," James said before nodding at Peter and Sirius and began to walk off. Sirius and Peter looked torn, but ultimately choice to go with James, sending an apologetic look to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, however, didn't really care: she was glad to go, even if it was just with Remus.

"I can't believe you're doing this for me!" Elizabeth said excitedly, linking arms with Remus as the two walked out into the snow. It was oddly still - the snow falling was quiet and there was no wind - and it was very enjoyable for Elizabeth.

"Of course, Paws. I'm glad to help," Remus smiled genuinely and Elizabeth squeezed his arm, excited, "but I do need to go somewhere in Hogsmeade, too,"

"Oh," Elizabeth said in realization, "you're only doing this because you need something,"

"No!" Remus said quickly, looking at Elizabeth with a worried expression, "I could have gone any time. It just happens to be good time. I wanted to go with you. I'm good with cats,"

"Wolves aren't from the same family as cats, though," Elizabeth said, thinking about how something closely related to a dog could possibly be good with cats.

"Well, maybe it's because I was good with cats before I was bitten," Remus said casually, and Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"What do you need?" Elizabeth asked, watching her feet as snow drifted on them. She flipped her blond hair, slightly smacking Remus in the face - who laughed - attempting to get the tiny snowflakes out of her hair.

"Well, I need to go to the potions store and pick up wolfsbane. I was also looking for some books,"

"What kind of books? Don't you go to the library for all your books?" Elizabeth questioned, knowing Remus preferred renting books than actually buying them. Remus suddenly began blushing and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow skeptically, "what, Remus?"

"I'm not buying the books for me?"

"Who for, then?"

"A girl," Remus muttered and Elizabeth gasped. A smile suddenly stretched across her face and she began playfully shoving Remus, begging him to tell her who.

"You can't tell the guys," Remus said seriously and Elizabeth nodded, showing him her crossed fingers in promise. He laughed, shaking his head, before yet again turning serious, "Morgan Sen,"

"The Asian Ravenclaw? The one with the really long black hair?" Elizabeth asked and Remus nodded, "aww, you two would be adorable together! When did you two start talking?"

"Well, when you were in the hospital wing, I went to the library alone. She was there alone, too, most times, so we would sit and study together and afterwards just talk," Elizabeth smiled and 'awwed' again.

"I'm glad you've found someone you like. Are you going to ask her to the ball?" Elizabeth asked excitedly, and Remus looked nervous.

"I don't know. She might not want to go with me," Remus said nervously and Elizabeth looked at him with surprise.

"Remus, I seriously think she likes you. If she's been spending every night with you in the library for over three weeks, she's interested. You have to ask her! I'll help you come up with a really romantic, but subtle way of doing it," Elizabeth said, jumping up and down as they began walking into town, "it'll be great!"

"I trust you, Paws," Remus said, however there was a hint of doubt in his voice which Elizabeth chose to ignore.

"Why don't we pick up the books you wanted for her, first?"

Elizabeth felt like Remus was the most stubborn person on the planet. After they had gone to the book store and Remus had picked up _Wonder of the Wigtown Wanderers_ and _Little People, Big Plans _for Morgan and Remus picked up his wolfsbane, Elizabeth dragged him to a shop that was specifically designed for ways to impress girls. Literally. The shop was called "First Impressions". Elizabeth tried to pick out things that would make it adorable for when he asked her to the ball, but Remus shot everything down.

"Remus, come on. You have to make this special," Elizabeth insisted as she looked around at different gifts, "giving her books when you do it is great, but you have to do more than that,"

Remus sighed at Elizabeth before turning around and wandering to the back of the store, trying to find something Elizabeth would approve of. Elizabeth, aggravated, walked over to the counter and looked at the jewelry in the glass before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"Remus!" Elizabeth called out, looking at the item she had just picked up. Remus walked back and looked at Elizabeth, than at the item she was looking at, and sighed again.

"We've already discussed flowers, Elizabeth. Too ordinary," Remus said and Elizabeth shook her head, turning to Remus and smiling largely.

"Remus, don't you realize what kind of flowers these are? These are roses ornées. See the white snow like substance on the edges of the petals? Well, the flowers don't last for more than a couple of hours after moved from their pots, but once they die it leaves you the most beautiful piece of jewelry. See here," Elizabeth reached into her shirt and pulled out a beautiful silver necklace with the pendant of a crystalized locket, "Sirius gave me this one for my 14 birthday last year. From the flowers. The pendant turns into whatever she desires most. This is a great gift!" Elizabeth opened the locket and saw a mini picture of her, Sirius, James, and Remus - Peter had been in Australia during the part of the summer in which this photo was taken - and smiled, "Remus, you have to give this to her. It will make her the happiest girl on the planet,"

"Okay, if you're sure," Remus looked at Elizabeth, who nodded, "then let's get it, get your cat, and head off,"

"If we get it now it means you're going to need to ask her by the end of lunch, Remus," Elizabeth said and Remus looked down, obviously not wanting to.

"Here," Elizabeth pulled out a small vile of a pink potion, "it's something I brewed up awhile ago. It gives you confidence, not a crazy amount, but just enough to get you through this,"

"I'm not sure if I should take that, Elizabeth," Remus said nervously.

"It won't do anything bad, I promise. It won't even change your personality. It will just give you the balls to go ask the way you plan to," Elizabeth said, "here," she handed the vile to Remus, folding it in his soft hands, "you'll do great,"

"Thanks, Elizabeth,"

"Of course, now let's pay so I can get my kitty," Elizabeth said, pulling Remus toward the counter to ask for the flowers.

"I can't decide, Remus," Elizabeth said exasperatedly as she looked at two kitties. One was gray, with little white strips, while the other was pure white. Elizabeth sighed as she looked at both: both cute, both sweet, both young. What was she possibly going to do?"

"It's up to you, Elizabeth," Remus said, readjusting the flowers in his arm. Elizabeth sighed loudly, ready to give up, when she saw a cat right next to the register. She walked over to it, looking at in the eye. It had bright green eyes - just like hers and Lily's - and was white, causing the eyes to stick out even more.

"Why, hello there," Elizabeth said, reaching her hand into the cage to say hello. The cat sniffed her hand before rubbing its nose against it lovingly. Elizabeth had found her cat.

"This one, Remus," She said excitedly, picking up the cat from the cage and showing the woman at the register, who nodded and gave her a cage, bed, food, and dishes for her as Elizabeth paid.

"You're not gonna carry that all, are you?" Remus asked, nervously looking at the amount of items Elizabeth had to take back. Elizabeth looked at him, laughing, and tapped her head. She pulled out her wand and muttered a charm, causing all of the items to shrink.

"Oh," Remus said stupidly as she shoved the items in her bag. Elizabeth laughed again, picking up the kitty and thanking the woman, walking out of the store with her friend.

"And what should we name you little..." Elizabeth checked under its belly, "...girl,"

Remus looked at the cat and tried to brainstorm names, but couldn't seem to come up with anything, "I have no idea. She's really unique, though. Her eyes look exactly like yours,"

Elizabeth nodded, "I know, it's really cool. Maybe... Ophelia,"

"Ophelia? As in, after Hamlet?" Remus said and Elizabeth nodded.

"I don't know if she had green eyes, but she was slender, dainty, and had beautiful hair. It's like this cat. And it's associated with flowers, like my sisters. I like it," Elizabeth said, moving Ophelia up to her face, "hi Ophelia, do you like your new name?" Ophelia seemed to glare at Elizabeth before rubbing her face against Elizabeth's neck and burrowing, causing Elizabeth to laugh.

"I think she does," Remus said, watching his friend bond with her cat.

Remus was nervous. He was sitting with his friends in The Great Hall, constantly looking at the doorway to see if Morgan had walked in. His hands were holding both the flowers and books, as well as the small vile Elizabeth had given him earlier that day.

"Look," Elizabeth whispered in his ear, placing her hand on the small of his back. Remus looked toward the door way and immediately saw her. Morgan was dressed in her usual muggle type clothing; a bright, lime green v-neck and a pair of light denim jeans that flared out at the bottom. Her round glasses sparkled as the reflection of candles hit them, and Remus automatically felt his heart rate increase.

"Take it," Elizabeth said, touching the hand Remus held the bottle tightly in. Remus decided as soon as his friend said those words that he would take it: and not look back. With a swift movement of his arm, he swished down the bottle and stood up, flowers in hand, and strode over to the Ravenclaw table, the confidence boiling inside him.

"What is he doing?" James asked, staring at Remus's retreating figure.

"You'll see," Elizabeth smiled, glad that her friend might finally be happy.

Remus felt all of the eyes behind him that were looking at the flowers in his hands. Usually, Remus would have just possibly fallen over and collapsed with all of the attention: but now he just didn't seem to care. Remus walked up behind Morgan and cleared his throat with just enough sound that caused Morgan to turn around. Morgan smiled, showing her pearly whites, a sparkle in her eye.

"Remus," She smiled even wider, waiting for him to say something, "can I help you with something?"

"Actually, yes, Morgan. There is. I was wondering if you would like to attend the Halloween Ball with me," As Remus spoke the words 'halloween ball', all of Morgan's jittery friends began giggling and whispering to each other, their eyes constantly lingering to Remus. Morgan looked Remus in the eye and allowed her smile to dim, only for it to brighten up again.

"Yes, Remus, I'll go with you. I would love to," She said shyly, looking at the ground before meeting Remus's eyes again.

"I was hoping you would say that," Remus said, pulling out the flowers and books behind his back. Everyone watching gasped and smiled, and Morgan blushed furiously as she gently took the gifts, setting them on the table.

"Thank you," She said, standing up and hugging Remus tightly. Remus hugged back, unaware that eventually he would smack himself for hugging someone that smelled so good close to full moon, but at the moment he didn't care.

"Wow. Moony actually asked out a girl. This is huge," Sirius said, watching as Remus sat down with the girls, holding Morgan's hand under the table. Elizabeth grinned at the two, happy chills going down her spine.

"I know! This is fantastic. I think they'll have a great time at the ball," She said, watching Remus turn around to wink at her. Elizabeth smiled and waved, then turned back to her friends.

"Now we just have to find a date, Wormtail," James said, his eyes drawing to Lily before returning to his food, a sad look appearing on his face.

"Cheer up, mate," Sirius said, patting James on the back. James faked a slight smile, but he didn't fool anyone.

"You could ask out Marlene, I know she's dying to go with you," Elizabeth suggested, but James only shrugged, digging his fork into his food and eating.

"Or a Slytherin and embarrass them," Peter said, causing Elizabeth to glare and for James to chuckle.

"No thanks," James said, sighing as he set down his fork, "I think I'd rather be eaten by a Hippogriff than spend even a minute with a Slytherin,"

_Knock knock knock._

_Knock knock knock._

"Jesus Christ," Elizabeth muttered as something knocked on her window. She opened her eyes, seeing only darkness around her. She turned to her night stand and checked the time. _1:14 A.M._

"Jesus Christ," Elizabeth repeated, her eyes adjusting to the little amount of light the clock projected. _Knock knock knock. _"Fuck, I'm coming," Elizabeth whispered angrily, standing up quickly and pushing away her curtain, walking over to her window and opening it.

"Oh my gosh,"; Elizabeth said, seeing Sirius only a foot away from her window on his broom. Elizabeth leaned out the window, glaring, "what are you doing?"

"Taking you out for a spin," Sirius chuckled, reaching his hand out to Elizabeth.

"Are you kidding? It's one in the morning!" Elizabeth said, but Sirius only shrugged, obviously not caring what time it was.

"Fine," Elizabeth complied, taking a step backward, "but let me grab my coat,"

"Yes," Sirius whispered, making a fist pound in the air and whipping his broom around, closer to the window. Elizabeth slowly and silently walked over to the closet and pulled out a black hoodie and quickly ran back to the window, taking Sirius's hand and getting behind him on the broom.

"Hold on," Sirius turned his head, smiling. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his back, feeling him jolt as the broom began flying toward the sky.

"Now where are we going?" Elizabeth asked, watching the stars above her fly by.

"You'll see," Sirius said, his laughter evident in his voice as he flew his broom toward the forbidden forest. Elizabeth wanted to scream and beat him down to the ground, but her better judgement decided against it: he wouldn't hurt her.

The flight was longer than Elizabeth expected. It took a good fifteen minutes for them to pass over the forest at incredible speed to arrive where Sirius had wanted to take her: a small wizarding community several miles outside of Hogwarts. Elizabeth could see the lights in homes lit, the community sparkling.

"Why are we here?" Elizabeth asked, wrapping herself tighter around Sirius.

"It's called Vengela. It's an Italian wizarding community. They immigrated here decades ago," Sirius said, continuing to fly overhead.

"You didn't answer my question," Elizabeth said in a slightly irritated tone.

"Which was?" Sirius joked, causing Elizabeth to smack him hard in the chest, "because there's something I want to show you,"

Sirius continued to fly for only a moment before descending his broom into what looked like ultimate darkness to Elizabeth. Elizabeth wanted to yet again kill Sirius, not wanting to be somewhere she had never been before in the dead of night, but didn't. As they landed, Elizabeth's bare feet stepped onto soft, wet grass.

"Where are we?" Elizabeth whispered, walking only a step forward.

Sirius didn't respond, but simply pulled his wand out from his pocket and flicked it lightly. Suddenly, candles became lit and Elizabeth could see where they were. It was beautiful, really: a quiet creek that ran into a large lake, candles and rocks all around it. Elizabeth smiled as she looked at the lake only a few feet in front of her: the fish swimming around below and the frogs on lily pads.

"It's beautiful," Elizabeth said thankfully, to which Sirius smiled at. He stepped closer to her, putting his arms around his waist.

"All for you," He spoke, bending his head down to kiss her lovingly.

"Are we just sitting here or is there something exciting to do?" Elizabeth joked with Sirius, who smiled and pulled out a bag from his pocket. Elizabeth gasped and smiled excitedly as she saw what was in the bag: marshmallows.

"We're not!" Elizabeth said, but Sirius nodded.

"We are," Elizabeth jumped up and down as Sirius pulled out a bag of chocolate and graham crackers, leading Elizabeth over to a fire pit which he quickly lit. A giant log sat near it, to which Sirius and Elizabeth situated themselves on and Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh as she roasted marshmallows.

"What's so funny?" Sirius questioned, poking Elizabeth with a stick.

"Nothing. I'm just happy," Elizabeth leaned over to kiss Sirius, then lean into his arm, "best date ever," Elizabeth whispered as she stared into his face - focused on roasting his marshmallow.

"There will be many more. I hope," Sirius said, his gaze casting downward before he dropped his marshmallow, placing his hands on Elizabeth's cheeks and kissing her.


	19. Confusion

Professor Turri hated this class: she had yet to determine why she hadn't quit teaching with having to deal with _this_ type of behavior. Yes, fifth years were most certainly the worst: she thought that teaching arrogant boys and death eater girls at Durmstrang was bad, but this was a whole different level. The combined Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff fifth year class wasn't that bad; the girls chitchatted but completed their work and there was never any arguing. However, the Gryffindor and Slytherin class - _bloody hell, _she thought, _why had they combined the two houses that hated each other the most? _- was beyond awful. She had the Slytherins who were arrogant and felt like they didn't deserve to be working in the same vicinity as 'mudbloods' and 'blood traitors'; and then there were the Gryffindors, who were just as proud and ready to beat Slytherins into a bloody pulp.

Of course, Turri had been a Gryffindor herself and remember how had it was, but she hadn't had the Marauders. No, they caused all of the trouble. They loved to 'accidentally' send spells in the direction of Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape, desperately trying to get one of them into the hospital wing. Of course no one would say it was them - the Gryffindors adored them so much that it was house against house, a he said, she said game - but she knew, even if she couldn't punish them. She also had yet to fully understand how Elizabeth and Lily were even from the same family. Of course, they had the same bone structure and piercing green eyes, but Lily loved to stay on everyone's good side, while Elizabeth only cared about what was right: to which she felt like a lot of the Slytherins were wrong.

So when the class was practicing nonverbal spells and a Slytherin boy suddenly grew antlers without anyone saying the spell, Turri suspected it was the Marauders: except no one could do nonverbal spells.

"Alright, who was it?" Professor Turri asked, mumbling 'finite incantatem' to get rid of the hysterical boy's antlers. Of course the Gryffindors were busy laughing hysterically, no one wishing to come forward, which only made the professor angrier.

"I asked a question! Who was it?" She repeated, and of course no one responded. Professor Turri, exhausted from debating with students constantly about the difference between right and wrong, collapsed in her chair and put her head in her hands, not wanting to find out.

"I can't believe you did that, Liz," Lily whispered to her sister, pulling away from her partner to talk to her. Elizabeth feigned a shocked look and placed her hand over her heart.

"Why would you assume it's me? It could have been anyone!" Elizabeth said, arguing her case. Lily rolled her eyes dramatically, then returned to glaring at Elizabeth.

"You are the only one in this class who can do nonverbal spells. You've been able to do them since first year; which I have yet to understand. I can't even do nonverbal spells! Anyways, it had to be you," Lily said, glancing around the classroom to see if anyone was eavesdropping on their conversation: thankfully, no one was.

"Well, maybe it was me. I had a good reason, though!" Elizabeth said, causing Lily to raise an eyebrow, ready to hear a ridiculous explanation.

"I walked by him on the way to Transfiguration today, and bloody Goyle was talking about Xenophilius Lovegood. Talking about how he was a nut and a blood traitor and how they were going to sneak into the Ravenclaw common room and switch all of his clothes with dresses. Xeno is only a second year, he doesn't deserve to beaten up on," Elizabeth said, causing Lily to sigh and glance at Goyle.

"I guess, but you should have just gone to a professor," Lily argued, Elizabeth shrugging.

"Now, Lily, you know I don't do anything the traditional way," Elizabeth smiled as she sat down in a random seat, pulling out her wand and thinking 'accio notebook', causing her notebook to fly toward her.

"I don't know how you do that," Lily said in an exasperated tone, leaving and turning back to her partner to continue studying. Elizabeth shrugged - knowing well Lily wasn't paying attention - and wondered the same thing. Why could she achieve nonverbal spells when some adult wizards still couldn't perform them?

"Paws, come help us," A whiny voice called from several rows away. Elizabeth smiled, looking up: of course James would need help. Elizabeth stood up and walked over to her friend, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Whatcha need, bud?" Elizabeth asked. James sighed, his shoulders bouncing up and down, before speaking.

"I can't do this! It's a simply spell, Paws. I can't do it," James said, looking at his wand.

"What's the spell you're practicing?" Elizabeth questioned, looking at the nonmoving wand.

"Lumos,"

"Yeah, okay, that's a good starter. Try this for me, just humor me, okay?" James nodded, "close your eyes. And really picture the light coming to the wand. Picture yourself gently moving the wand, saying the incantation, and the bright light appearing from the tip of your wand. Think about how it felt to say it. And then open your eyes, and picture that scene in your mind again, staring at your wand. And then think the incantation, imagining all of your energy flowing to the wand so it will light up,"

James kept his eyes closed for about a minute, obviously thinking very deeply on trying to get the spell right. When he opened them, it was only several seconds before the tip of his wand had a faint light pointed at Remus. James smiled, thinking deeper, and the light gradually grew larger until it was as big as it would have been had he said the incantation.

"Oh my gosh, Elizabeth! I did it!" James screamed, the light dying out on his wand before he jumped onto Elizabeth, hugging her tightly.

"You're welcome," Elizabeth said, laughing as he squeezed the air out of her longs. James let go, and grinned like a madman at Remus, doing girly turns and flips.

"That's really cool, Paws," Remus said, looking at Elizabeth. Elizabeth shrugged, smiling with pride, before sitting back down in her seat and getting her notebook. She was ready to write what Turri had requested: a short paragraph on how you best got nonverbal spells to work for you and what you tried that failed.

Elizabeth worked steadily for several minutes, her quill gliding across the page until suddenly her eyes began to slowly blink. As she opened her eyes from each blink, the picture of her notebook faded and was replaced by another. Elizabeth continued to blink, attempting to move the scene, until she could no longer see the classroom. Instead, she saw a house.

It was a beautiful house; there were ferns that were climbing up and down the stone and over the fence, a polished door in front. Elizabeth looked around, seeing her own feet. Elizabeth felt like she was at home, however she had never seen the place before. It was night time; the stars twinkling above and the moon in the distance. Elizabeth allowed her feet to tread toward the house, standing in front of the door. Elizabeth felt compelled to open the door, until she heard voices.

"Does she know?" A muffled voice said, sounding as if it was underwater. Elizabeth strained to hear, pressing her ear against the door.

"No, I thought you could tell her, _**muffled name**_," Elizabeth reached forward and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Elizabeth searched for her wand, but found it nowhere. Where was she? What was going on?"

"I haven't spoken to her in years, professor," The first voice spoke, distress evident through the thick walls. Elizabeth wondered what had happened. She took a step back and tried to find an open window, somewhere she could get in, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

As she became frightened, the scene suddenly changed to almost complete darkness except a pair of red eyes. Elizabeth wanted to scream, her breath increasing rapidly, but she found her vocal chords were shut. She felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth?" Remus shook Elizabeth, who seemed to be in a trance. Suddenly, she blinked and appeared very confused: looking at Remus.

"Yeah, Remus?" She asked quietly, her eyes looking into his but her gaze seeming hazy.

"Are you okay? You were crying," Remus said worriedly, his hand still placed on her shoulder. Elizabeth seemed surprised, her hand reaching up to wipe her face: indeed, she had been crying.

"Sorry, I was just zoning out," Elizabeth said, glancing down at her fingers before looking at Remus, smiling, "sometimes I get that way,"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Remus asked, worry still all over his face. Elizabeth nodded, smiling yet again.

"Of course I am, Remus. Now go practice your spells so I don't have to help you," Elizabeth laughed, attempting to act normal, but Remus could still see something was wrong. However, he let it drop, smiling lightly as he walked back over to James, pulling out his wand.

'What was that all about?' Elizabeth questioned as she leaned back in her seat, letting her head hang off of the back of the chair. She could recognize the voices - she knew that for sure - but the house? The eyes? She had absolutely no idea, and honestly didn't want to find out.

"You weren't at dinner," A voice said from across the room. Elizabeth was lying on her bed, staring into the ceiling with concerned thoughts. She had quickly avoided her friends as soon as she finished her classes and came straight to her room, wanting to sleep all of her thoughts off. However, they seemed to spin around her head, haunting her constantly.

"I wasn't hungry," Elizabeth responded to the familiar voice, continuing to stare at the ceiling. Footsteps were suddenly echoing in the room and soon they stepped very close to Elizabeth's bed.

"You're always hungry," The voice said in a worried tone, their hand reaching out to touch Elizabeth's face. Elizabeth turned to be faced with the stormy eyes she loved so much, smiling immediately at his face.

"I just wasn't today. Here," Elizabeth moved over slightly, giving room so that Sirius could lay next to her. Sirius smiled slightly and moved into the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"But we missed you," Sirius said before he kissed Elizabeth's neck lightly and pulled Elizabeth to face him, cuddling her into his chest. Elizabeth breathed in deeply, smelling the cologne he war and smiling on impulse.

"I'm sure you survived. Flirt with Marlene, huh?" Elizabeth joked, receiving a chuckle and kiss on the top of her head.

"Only you, darling," Sirius whispered against her head, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "I think your parents wrote you back, you got a letter. I put it on your nightstand,"

"Thanks, Padfoot," Elizabeth thanked, however not moving: which seemed unusual considering Elizabeth was almost always excited to receive letters from her family.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sirius asked as a silence enveloped them, and Elizabeth shrugged slightly.

"I don't really know, to be honest," Elizabeth said.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Sirius asked again and Elizabeth shook her head, moving closer into his chest.

"No, I just want to lay here," Elizabeth said, yawning slightly as she felt tired.

"Okay," Sirius whispered, wrapping his arms tighter around her and placing his chin on top of her head, breathing in the cherry scent of her shampoo. It wasn't long until both of them had fallen asleep, their breathing completely in sync.

Elizabeth was glad to be feeling like herself again. It had taken the night of sleepless dreams for Elizabeth to relax and not focus on her little 'episode' in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was happy that Sirius actually stayed with her - assuming he would have left once the girls started piling into the dorm - but he hadn't. He had stripped down to his boxers, making Elizabeth laugh about the rumors that would be starting that day. Elizabeth looked at him for a moment, his messy hair and steady, deep breathing, before she kissed his lips softly and began to pull out of bed. However, as she sat up, a hand grabbed her wrist, causing her to practically sleep.

"Jesus Christ, Sirius! I thought you were asleep," Elizabeth whispered, glaring at her boyfriend. Sirius chuckled as he tried to pull Elizabeth back into bed, "no," she whined as she laid down on the bed, "I need to take a shower,"

"Can I join?" Sirius said cheekily, receiving a slap in the chest.

"Were you awake when the girls came in?" Elizabeth glanced around the room - curtains were closed around all of the beds, indicating they were all, indeed, asleep.

"Well, I wasn't, but they were way too loud. It was late," Sirius said, pulling Elizabeth closer to him.

"But they definitely saw you," Elizabeth said and Sirius nodded, laughing at himself, "what?"

"They saw us and started laughing and talking, and I could hear Lily was throwing a shit-fit. The rest of the girls just thought it was funny and cute," Sirius said and Elizabeth nodded, getting ready to speak before the sound of a curtain swiping open was suddenly apparent.

"I'm trying to sleep here, can you two shut it?" Lily asked, her red hair extremely frizzy and clouding her face. Elizabeth glanced at the clock before choosing to respond.

"Your alarm clock is going off in a minute anyways, I doubt you have much time to sleep," Lily glared before slamming her curtain shut, causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes.

"Okay, really, let me go. Because I never am the first one to take a shower because I'm always the last one up, and it would be great if I could actually get into the shower before there's pubic hair and grossness in it," Elizabeth said, causing Sirius to look disgusted and let her go.

"Pubic hair? In the shower?" Sirius asked, "isn't there a charm for that or something?"

"You would think," Elizabeth said as she climbed out of bed, her bare feet tiptoeing across the floor and into the bathroom.

As Elizabeth showered and got ready for the day, she definitely tried to come up with the crazy rumors that will be floating around the school that day. Sirius had slept over and had been in his boxers; so they must have had sex, and she's probably pregnant. Elizabeth could imagine the distress in the school for months to come, chuckling as she opened the door.

Of course, the girls were already up, shoving past Elizabeth to try to get in the shower. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and looked at her bed: of course Sirius had left as soon as she did, probably not wanting to be there for this hysteria.

"You," Lily said distinctly, pointing to Elizabeth and signaling her to come closer. Elizabeth looked around and pointed at herself, raising an eyebrow. Lily's glare darkened, so Elizabeth took it as a cue not to make any more jokes.

"Yes, my love?" Elizabeth spoke sweetly to her sister, adjusting her skirt and tie accordingly.

"Why was he here?" Lily glanced at the empty bed before looking back at Elizabeth.

"He spent the night. I was upset, I needed a friend. We both fell asleep," Elizabeth said truthfully, causing a raised eyebrow from her sister.

"So," she paused, "nothing happened?"

"Christ, Lily! Of course not," Elizabeth said, passing by her as she went to flick her wand and make her bed.

"Good," Lily said, a smile evident in her voice, "why were you upset?"

"Weird, pessimistic thoughts about life," Elizabeth said, fudging the truth. Lily didn't seem to question it anymore, however she didn't seem to believe her, either.

"Are you okay now?" She asked and Elizabeth nodded, glancing in the mirror before picking up her bag and putting on her black high heels.

"Yupp! Are you?" Elizabeth asked, turning her head slightly. Lily seemed confused and just nodded.

"Yeah. Okay, go see your loser friends," Lily smiled slightly and Elizabeth chuckled, kissing her on the cheek before beginning to walk past, shoving past Marlene as she searched for her socks, "by the way, you never told me what James was so hysterical about?"

"Amos didn't tell you?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes bulging out on impulse. 'Shit' she thought, 'I should not have said that.'

"Uhm, no," Lily said, taking a step toward Elizabeth, "what the bloody hell did he do?"

"Nothing! Actually, I was surprised. Really surprised," Elizabeth said, looking into Lily's eyes. Lily said nothing, simply staring back, before Elizabeth decided she really wasn't in the mood to be bugged about James and his hormonal fits right now.

"Bye, Lilikins!" Elizabeth said flirtatiously as she opened the door and walked through it.

"That's not my name!" Lily screamed, but was too late as the door was already closed. She sighed dramatically and turned around, ready to start the day.


	20. Comforting Baths

"Sirius," Elizabeth whined dramatically as Sirius walked into his dormitory. Elizabeth was placed on his bed in Indian style, obviously waiting for Sirius to return from Tuesday's afternoon quidditch practice. Of course, Elizabeth didn't attend: she had learned first year that if she practiced the week before a game, for some reason she was exhausted and stressed the day of the game and would be failing miserably at being a beater. So when Sirius arrived at around 6 o'clock, sweating badly, she had been waiting.

"Yes, love?" Sirius said, out of breath. He threw his broom on the floor, panting loudly, and lied down on the floor. His Quidditch uniform was soaked - it was apparent James had worked him hard - and was about ready to tell everyone to bugger off. Sirius closed his eyes and tried to take in a deep breath.

"Here," Elizabeth spoke, causing Sirius to open his eyes. Elizabeth got off of his bed and conjured a glass of water with her wand, then handed it to Sirius. Sirius sat back up and downed the entire glass within seconds, then took a nice long breath.

"Thanks, Paws," Sirius said, cocking his lopsided grin before wiping off his forehead.

"So, I assume practice wasn't fun?" Elizabeth asked and Sirius shook his head dramatically.

"It was the worst practice before a game I have ever been too. James worked us way too hard in a period of only a couple hours. He's still out there working with Scottie; wants to make sure that kid doesn't screw up at all. It was brutal," Elizabeth chuckled, receiving a glare in respond, but she ignored it.

"It's James, what do you expect?" Sirius nodded, standing up and sighing at his aching muscles.

"I need to take a shower," Sirius said, causing Elizabeth to sigh and roll her head back.

"But Sirius, I can't find Ophelia!" Sirius wanted to laugh but couldn't find it in him.

"She's a cat, Liz. She wanders. I'm sure she's out chasing mice or something," Sirius said, causing Elizabeth to sigh. Sirius gave her a quick peck on the lips before slowly walking over to the bathroom to take a shower.

"A bath would be better," Elizabeth spoke, causing Sirius to take a pause, "for your muscles. A bubble bath would be better,"

"We don't have a bath tub, Elizabeth," Sirius said, using her full name in fear that she was losing her mind.

"No, but the prefects bathroom does. And I know the password," Elizabeth moved her eyebrows up and down, causing Sirius to start laughing.

"Will you be joining me in this bubble bath, miss Evans?" Sirius asked seductively, causing Elizabeth to smirk.

"Sure, I'll grab my swimsuit," Elizabeth walked over to him and kissed him again, then pulled away and headed toward the door, "you better grab yours too,"

Sirius chuckled as he watched her retreating figure and walked over to his dress, pulling out his swim trunks and yawning loudly: he was ready to beat the shit out of James.

Elizabeth quickly ran down the stairs and back up them to the girls's dormitory, slamming the door open to her dorm. Lily and Aurelia were sitting on Aurelia's bed, obviously gossiping, and were slightly frightened when Elizabeth walked in so loudly.

"Jesus, Elizabeth. You scared the crap out of us there," Lily said, placing a hand over her heart. Elizabeth shrugged, smiling, as she ran over to her bed and pulled out a blue and white polka dotted bikini.

"Sorry about that," Elizabeth said as she walked over to the bathroom, leaving the door slightly cracked so she could hear her sister and Aurelia talk as she changed into her swim suit. When Elizabeth began taking off her uniform, she noticed Ophelia lying in the shower.

"Ophelia!" She called out, walking over to the cat and scooping her up, "what are you doing in the shower?" For a moment, Elizabeth actually waited for a response, hoping being an animagus would give her some special talent of being able to talk to animals. It didn't.

"Silly cat," She said, putting the cat back down on the ground. Ophelia wandered out of the bathroom and Elizabeth heard Aurelia start talking.

"Where are you going, Lize?" Aurelia's thick accident resonated through the room.

"I'm going to go take a bubble bath in the prefects bathroom," Elizabeth said. Although she couldn't see it, she knew that Lily was raising her eyebrows.

"Elizabeth, you're not a prefect," Lily said matter-of-factly. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, peaking her head out of the crack in the door.

"You really think James didn't give me the password?" Elizabeth returned back into the bathroom, placing her clothes over her bikini. She looked at herself in the mirror: she looked thin, thinner than usual. Elizabeth wondered if it was all the Quidditch practice within the last week, but shrugged and blew it off.

"Bloody James, can't follow the rules," Lily muttered, causing Aurelia to laugh shyly.

"Lily," Elizabeth exited the bathroom, "you would have given me the password if I had asked,"

"I know, but I'm your sister! That's different," Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she walked past Lily.

"It's not, but okay. I love you, I'll talk to you when I get back," Elizabeth said, waving goodbye. As she approached the door, Lily interrupted.

"Oh, Elizabeth, by the way. Mum told me you haven't responded to her letter and she's getting worried. She also sent me a letter to you from grandma and pappy," Elizabeth swore loudly, walking over to her nightstand. She forgot that on Sunday Sirius had given her the letters. She ran over to her nightstand and picked up the letters, sitting on her bed to quickly read them.

"Shit, I can't believe I forgot. Lily, can I get the letter from pappy and grandma?" Lily opened a drawer in her nightstand and threw over a scroll, to Elizabeth. Elizabeth caught it in her left hand without even looking, and then began unwrapping the letter from her parents.

_Dear Elizabeth,_

_ You were in the hospital wing? Elizabeth Renée Evans, I cannot believe you did such a foolish thing! Well, I suppose you didn't do anything: except you didn't tell us! Neither did Lily, and trust me, she'll get a lecture as well. Of course I am worried! Maybe you should see a muggle doctor, I'm sure they are better with concussions and things like that. Bloody hell, Elizabeth. You should have told us! Now we're even more worried about you._

_ As for you and Sirius, I can't say I couldn't see it coming eventually. Lily had written me saying you two seemed more cozy than usual; and I do believe she did tell me you were dating. I wish you had told me earlier, though, I respect you having your own life. I hope he treats you well: that boy is so sweet! So is James, but don't tell your darling sister that I said so._

_ I'm glad that you haven't had as many detentions as usual, but if you were out of school for three weeks... but besides that, I hope you're having a good time. Lily told me you have a Halloween ball Saturday? I hope you got a beautiful dress, make sure to take pictures of both of you and send them to me! Tell me what it looks like, too! I also heard you have a Quidditch game on Friday - good luck, and try not to get anyone in the hospital wing like you did last time, dear! I would have thought Professor Slughorn was going to fly right over to our house and yell at us after we got that... oh, what was that ruddy thing called? A louder? A yeller? Oh, I just don't know._

_ Your father says hello and wants to tell you he got a great Christmas present for you. I, on the other hand, think it's absolutely absurd, but I always get outvoted on these things, don't I? _

_ I love you, darling,_

_ Mummy_

Elizabeth laughed at the letter; she really did love her mother and felt bad about writing more often. She had to make sure that as soon as she got back from the bath to send off a letter, or at least one in the morning.

The next thing to do was to read her grandparents letter. She quickly ripped that open, too, and immediately recognized the messy handwriting of her grandfather.

_*Lieber meine süße,_

_Ich bin so froh, dass Sie, uns zu schreiben. Ihre Großmutter und ich habe Ihnen sehr, sehr vermisst. Bitte schreiben Sie öfter._

_Ich bin froh zu hören, du nimmst eine Verteidigung Klasse: es ist gut zu wissen, wie Sie sich selbst zu verteidigen. Wenn jemand weh tut, können Sie ziehen den Karate, dass sie gebunden zu sein Unterricht Sie sind. Ich höre, es ist gut für Ihre Gesundheit, auch. Bist du noch tun American Football? Ich möchte Sie auf einen leichten Spiel zu nehmen, süß._

_Wir sind gerade zurück bilden Australien und sind nun wieder zu Hause in Österreich. Ihre Großmutter war bereit nach Hause zu kommen und schlafen in ihrem eigenen Bett, aber wir können wieder ausgehen, bevor der Sommer kommt herum. Sie sagt, sie hofft, können Sie bald besuchen._

_Petunia ist ein sehr glückliches Mädchen zu bekommen bei einem so jungen Alter verheiratet sein. Ihre Großmutter und ich habe mit 17 geheiratet, und schauen, wie lange wir schon verheiratet! 53 Jahren. Wir werden bei der Hochzeit sein, ich höre es am 5. Juni. Das ist, was dein Vater sagt zumindest._

_Ich höre, Sie haben eine bo der sich aber. Herzlichen Glückwunsch, liebe! Bitte bringen Sie ihn zur Hochzeit sind wir sterben, um ihn zu treffen._

_Wir lieben dich, mein kleiner Karamel,_

_Grandpappy und Großmama_

Elizabeth's smile broadened at her grandfather's use of her nickname, butterscotch. She loved it and got even more excited to see her grandparents when Petunia got married. As much as she wanted to write back at that very moment, she put down the letters on her bed and said goodbye to Aurelia and Lily, running out of the dormitory and down to meet Sirius in the common room.

"Took you long enough," Sirius spoke in a cocky tone, removing himself off of the couch. Elizabeth nodded towards the portrait hole and started walking out, Sirius in tow.

"Sorry, Lily reminded me that my parents had written me and I needed to read the letter you gave me Sunday," Elizabeth said, taking a left into an empty hallway. Luckily, the prefect bathroom was very close to the Gryffindor common room: she figured that Godric Gryffindor just had the most say when it came to building the castle.

"How are your parents?" Sirius asked, following Elizabeth.

"They're good. They actually approve of us," Elizabeth said.

"Really? Well, I always knew your mother liked me. Sends me a Christmas present every year," Sirius said in an arrogant tone, causing Elizabeth to chuckle at her boyfriend.

"The son she never had," She said, Sirius nodding and smiling.

Elizabeth finally stopped at large portrait of a mermaid sitting on a rock. She was preoccupied with combing her hair with some odd rock to notice the two students standing by. Elizabeth coughed her throat twice before the mermaid looked at her.

"Password?" The mermaid said lazily, looking back at her hair. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Runespoor," Elizabeth said and without looking, the portrait hole swung open, "wow, couldn't have been more excited to see us!" Elizabeth said sarcastically as she walked through the hole, receiving a glare from the mermaid.

Sirius chuckled as he walked in, caught up in the beautiful interior of the bathroom. It had a huge bathtub in the middle and was covered in elegant stones of different colors.

"Why have I never been here?" Sirius asked and Elizabeth shrugged, taking off her shirt.

"I'm not sure, now strip and get in. It's always heated," Elizabeth slipped off her skirt and stood looking at Sirius, who was staring at her, "what?"

"You're just so beautiful," He said genuinely, a smile reaching his lips. Elizabeth smiled back and walked over, kissing him sweetly.

"Get in the tub, silly," Elizabeth said, pulling away and walking over to the tub, slowly stretching and getting in. Sirius shook his head before pulling off his uniform and getting into the bathtub, his dark blue swim trunks hanging loosely off of his legs. Elizabeth looked up and down Sirius, thinking of how gorgeous he looked in that moment: his hair and muscular body, including a six pack and Elizabeth would die for, made him look like a regal, Greek God.

Sirius moaned quietly as the warm water and bubbles rushed over his body, glad to finally be able to relax. Meanwhile, Elizabeth put her head under the gentle water, soaking her hair. As she came back up, her hair dripping all around her, she slowly went over to Sirius, beside him and resting her head on his chest. Sirius sighed, breathing in and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"You smell good," Sirius said, causing Elizabeth to laugh.

"Thanks," She said, closing her eyes, listening to the sound of Sirius's heart beat against his chest. They stayed in silence like this for a long time, both absorbed in their own thoughts about the other. Finally, Elizabeth pulled away from him and rewetted herself, sighing loudly.

"So, feeling any better?" She questioned, wrapping herself in bubbles. She looked at Sirius and awaited a response.

"Much," Sirius smiled at her, reaching his hand out. Elizabeth grabbed it and was pulled into Sirius, her lips meeting with his. The two hotly moved their lips against each other, their tongues moving against each other in a war. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck as Sirius pulled her even closer, running his hands through her soggy hair. Elizabeth sighed as Sirius pulled away, running kisses down her neck and letting his hands roam her stomach, massaging her waist lovingly.

Soon, however, they were interrupted by the door swinging open, causing the two lovers to pull away from each other and see who had walked in. It was James, who had beads of sweat dripping down his face. He hadn't noticed his two mates in the tub though, so he immediately began undressing. Sirius and Elizabeth looked at each other, trying hard not to laugh as James stripped to his underwear and got into the bathtub only a few feet away. His eyes were closed slightly, and when his body hit the water, he closed them completely he sighed loudly, rubbing his eyes.

"Nice to see you, mate," Elizabeth said, causing James to open his eyes and jump in the water. Elizabeth began cracking up at the startled image of James, burying her face into Sirius's chest, which was moving rapidly as he was laughing.

"For fuck sakes, you could have let me know you were in here before hand," James said, running a hand through his shaggy hair. Sirius laughed again as Elizabeth responded.

"Well, I don't know about Sirius, but I just wanted to see your hot, sexy body," Elizabeth flirted, causing James to send a death glare to her.

"You know, for someone who wasn't at practice, I wouldn't mess with me," James said threateningly.

"You know I do better when I don't go to practice right before the game. So, I can mess with you," Elizabeth said, resting against Sirius once more, kissing his shoulder tenderly.

"Yeah, and I could beat your ass for not only giving me one hell of a practice, but interrupting my make out session with Paws," Sirius said. James opened one eye, looking at the two.

"Well, feel free to make out here. I won't watch," James said, closing his eye again and sighing. Elizabeth shook her head, but that didn't keep her from going back to kissing her boyfriend. After only maybe thirty seconds of hot groping and kissing in the bathtub, James spoke up.

"Okay, I take that back. Don't make out here. You two are the loudest kissers in the entire world," James said in an aggravating tone, causing Sirius to let out a bark like laughter.

_*Dear my sweet,_

_I am so glad you chose to write us. Your grandmama and I have missed you very, very much. Please write more often._

_I'm glad to hear you're taking a defense class: it's good to know how to defend yourself. If anyone hurts you, you can pull the karate that they are bound to be teaching you. I hear it's good for your health, too. Are you still doing American football? I want to take you on a light game, sweet._

_We just came back form Australia and are now back at home in Austria. Your grandmama was ready to come back home and sleep in her own bed; but we may go out again before summer comes around. She says she hopes you can visit soon._

_Petunia is a very lucky girl to be getting married at such a young age. Your grandmama and I got married at 17, and look how long we've been married! 53 years. We will be at the wedding; I hear it is June 5th. That's what your father says, at least._

_I hear you have a bo of yourself though. Congratulations, love! Please bring him to the wedding, we are dying to meet him._

_We love you, my little butterscotch,_

_Grandpappy and grandmama_


	21. Seered

"This, is a Fanged Geranium, class. Now, touch it very carefully, as it has very sharp teeth and it will bite hard. If given the chance, it will take off your finger! Now, once they are sedated, they are very useful in many types of healing potions, such as..." Professor Sprout was rambling, to which Elizabeth wanted to shoot herself in the food. She absolutely hated herbology; although she knew it was necessary for becoming a healer, she really didn't care. She memorized, she knew what she was doing and could do it right, but she was bored. Or maybe it was the teacher. She had never really contemplated it.

"Wormtail," Elizabeth said quietly, poking her friend in the side. Peter looked up, obviously startled, seeing as he was vigorously taking notes.

"Yeah, Paws?" Peter asked, glancing at her and then back to Professor Sprout.

"Wanna get out of her?" Elizabeth asked. Peter raised an eyebrow, and locked eyes with Professor Sprout.

"Now, I'm going to show you the proper way to uproot a Fanged Geranium. You may get bitten, so make sure your gloves fit!" Peter's beady eyes widened and looked at Elizabeth, nodding vigorously. Elizabeth tried her hardest not to laugh as she reached into her bag. As Professor Sprout began talking about uprooting the plant from the neck and roots, Elizabeth pulled out a small dung bomb. She then nudged Peter.

"Ask a question," Elizabeth said, causing Peter to look at her like she was crazy.

"What?" He asked.

"Ask a bloody question," Elizabeth said quickly as she released the pull on the dung bomb. Peter quickly raised his hand.

"Yes, Pettigrew?" Professor Sprout locked eyes with Peter. Peter glanced around before speaking.

"Well, uhm, professor, when you said from the roots, do you mean, uh, the roots from under the, er, soil or above the... soil," Peter said awkwardly, adjusting his weight.

"Excellent question, Peter! Well, you will be..." Professor Sprout kept looking at Peter as she answered his question, giving Elizabeth time to discretely move the dung bomb right next to the pot of the Slytherin standing next to her. Within moments, there was a loud bang and the dung bomb explodes, swaying the plants on the long table, even causing some to fall over onto the floor. A putrid smell filled the room and all of the students began screaming, filing out.

"Okay, students!" Professor Sprout screamed, pushing the students out, "class is dismissed! Go get cleaned up and I'll take care of this mess! I'll see you Friday!" She bellowed out, however the students didn't really seem to be listening. Elizabeth and Peter ran out of the greenhouse and up the hill, on their way back to the Hogwarts entrance, laughing the entire way.

"That was brilliant, Paws!" Peter exclaimed, patting her on the back as he caught his breath. Elizabeth laughed too, stretching her arms above her head.

"God, I really bloody hate that class," Elizabeth said, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. The two sauntered into the front entrance, laughing, when they were interrupted by a voice.

"Why, hello there Mr. Pettigrew, Miss Evans," Professor Dumbledore's voice echoed from a few feet away. While Peter froze in his spots, terrified to get in trouble, Elizabeth smiled brightly at the headmaster.

"Hi Professor Dumbledore! Or is it Headmaster? I can never seem to know which one it is," Elizabeth's smile sparkled around her as she put her hands behind her back, putting on her best 'good girl' act. Professor Dumbledore chuckled quietly.

"Professor is fine, Elizabeth. On your way back from a dung bomb in the green house, I assume?" The professor's eyes twinkled with laughter, but Peter didn't seem to notice: he began whimpering. Elizabeth wanted to slap him upside the head, but thought it was best not to.

"Well, yes professor. That seems to be what had happened," Elizabeth smiled again, nodding her head in agreement.

"For a class you certainly do well in, you certainly hate it. An Outstanding for all four years, correct?" The professor asked.

"Well, to be honest, professor, I've had an Outstanding in ever class since first year, except for divination, but who counts that as a class, anyways?" Professor Dumbledore chuckled at the girl slightly.

"Elizabeth, I was questioning if you would wind coming with me, just a moment. I won't keep you from your activities within the castle for too long," The professor said, turning slightly solemn. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow: wondering what she could have possibly done. She had never been called in by the headmaster, and this was a little frightening for her.

"Of course, professor. See you later, Wormtail," Elizabeth saluted at her friend and followed Dumbledore down the entrance hallway and to the headmaster's tower. They walked in silence - seeing as it was a short walk from the entrance - and eventually reached the gargoyle statue, to which Dumbledore said "Cockroach Cluster". The gargoyle spun and released a set of stairs, to which Dumbledore signaled for Elizabeth to wander up. Elizabeth looked around as she walked up, amazed with all of the golden and silver artifacts on the walls. Finally, they reached a door, which Dumbledore opened and ushered Elizabeth inside.

Elizabeth couldn't believe she was in such a beautiful place; there were books lining all of the walls, as well as silver instruments and whizzing little artifacts. He had his Pensieve in one corner, his phoenix in another, and Elizabeth was truly mesmerized.

"Quite a place, isn't it?" Professor Dumbledore pulled her out of her thoughts. Elizabeth turned and looked at him, smiling widely.

"Man, you can say that again. Is that really a Pensieve?" Elizabeth wandered over to the shallow stone basin. She moved her hand around the silvery substance in the basin, causing it to flutter and move like a cloud.

"Yes, it is. I've had it for quite a long time; it comes to help me in great times of struggle," The professor smiled, and Elizabeth turned around to face him.

"I bet. I've always wanted one," She said, turning back to it before looking yet again at the professor, "so what did you need, professor?"

"Sit down, Elizabeth," Professor Dumbledore swished his arm, pointing at the fluffy chair across from his desk. Elizabeth complied, and Dumbledore sat down in his grand, oak chair, grossing his fingers.

"Would you like a butterscotch?" He nodded toward the bowl in the middle of the desk. Elizabeth shook her head no, and waited to find out why the professor had called her in.

"How are your classes going?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at this question, figuring that the professor had full access to her grades, but answered politely anyways.

"Good, I suppose. My grades seem good, tests have been going well. I was able to keep up when I was in the hospital, thankfully," Elizabeth nodded, glancing down at her twittering hands.

"That's very good, it would have been unfortunate had you fallen behind," The professor said, his eyes staring behind Elizabeth, seemingly lost in an unknown place. Elizabeth wanted to turn around and see what could possibly be so interesting, but chose not to.

"I know you're very confused about why I've called you down here," Elizabeth continued to stay silent, "but I am very interested in you. Professor Turri told me that you already possess the ability to perform nonverbal spells,"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and shrugged, looking down and feeling modest, "Yeah, I've been able to perform them since I first got my wand,"

"Do you have any idea why?" Professor Dumbledore spoke quietly, tilting his head slightly to the right. Elizabeth shook her head in response.

"No, and I guess I've never really thought about it too much. Some wizards just are better at some things at others," Elizabeth said logically. Dumbledore nodded at her.

"This is very true, and some wizards excel in many subjects," Professor Dumbledore said. Elizabeth felt uneasy, as if he had been talking about her.

"Sir, what is this about?" She asked, shifting her weight in her chair. Professor Dumbledore smiled humbly at her.

"I didn't intend to make you feel uncomfortable, Elizabeth. I simply need to know some information," Elizabeth looked down and back at him, waiting for his next question, "do you remember what happened when you fainted at Dominic Maestro's?"

Elizabeth shook her head no, "No, I don't. Do you know what happened?"

"I suspect I do, yes,"

"Well then, please, fill me in," Elizabeth said, hoping he would have the answers she couldn't provide. Professor Dumbledore nodded, and unlinked his hands, pulling out a desk drawer. He rummaged through it, and finally pulled out a photograph.

"Do you recognize this woman?" The professor asked, staring at Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked at the photograph, studying it. It was a truly beautiful person: a peculiarly short woman, with long black hair that hung straight around her head. Her black eyes seemed to sparkle slightly, and her smile was addicting. She wore a family crest ring on her right hand, but Elizabeth couldn't make out what it was.

"Yes," Elizabeth said, not even intending to. She wondered why she had said that, considering she felt like she didn't recognize this woman; but it felt like someone was speaking for her.

"Can you tell me who she is?" The professor asked. As Elizabeth's mind began to form the words 'no', letters started piling around in her brain. She could see them in her minds, the 'l's and 'e's. Elizabeth was so caught up in the letters she didn't even notice that she had spoken.

"You are correct," Professor Dumbledore said, pulling Elizabeth away from her thoughts.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, profusely confused. She shook her head, glancing at the photos, and back up at Dumbledore. However, the professor didn't seem to be surprised.

"You said Druella Rosier-Black. You are correct," Elizabeth's eyes bulged out of her head, not knowing when she could have possibly said that.

"Black as in, Sirius Black, sir?" Elizabeth said, looking at the picture. She could see Dumbledore nod out of her peripheral vision.

"Yes, she was his parents sister-in-law," Elizabeth blinked rapidly, and stared at Dumbledore, confused and a little bit frightened.

"Okay, I'm really confused," Elizabeth finally said, wanting answers. Professor Dumbledore smiled and put the picture back in his desk, closing the drawer quietly.

"I think you possess a gift that few people have, Elizabeth,"

"And what gift is this? Insanity?" Elizabeth laughed, but the professor remained like stone. Elizabeth's smile slowly turned into a frown.

"I do believe you are a seer," Elizabeth practically flew out of her chair at these words, wanting to die on the floor laughing. She couldn't possibly be a seer.

"Like Trelawney? Yeah, no, I don't think so," Elizabeth laughed, placing her hands on her chest to try and calm down.

"Professor Trelawney is eccentric, certainly, but contains quite a beautiful and rare gift,"

"Minnie says that true seers are really rare," Elizabeth realized her words, "err, Professor McGonagall,"

"She is absolutely correct," Professor Dumbledore stood up, walking swiftly over to his library and moving his long, boney finger across book spines until he finally found one, pulling it out, "there are few seers in our world." He placed the book right in front of Elizabeth, flipping through the thin pages. The book was incredibly small; an obvious list and biography of true seers within the wizarding world.

"I guess I'm confused on how you've figured this out," Elizabeth said, her eyes attempting to avoid Dumbledore's.

"Tyler had told me what happened in Dominic Maestro's, Elizabeth. He said that before you passed out, you were mumbling things. Things about a woman with dark hair, about a pair of red eyes, about a beautiful child. Things you would have never heard anywhere else in the world. I knew at that moment, you were talking about Druella. Who although was a cruel person, didn't want her daughter to be involved, until Voldemort came and begged and killed her," Professor Dumbledore said. Elizabeth's head was swimming at this point: Who was Voldemort? And why didn't she remember this vision, or whatever it was she wanted to call it?

"Who is Voldemort, sir?" Elizabeth asked, looking up at Elizabeth.

"A dark wizard who is making his reigns on the wizarding community. He believes only in pure-bloods and believes muggles and muggle-borns should be sentenced to death," Elizabeth gulped loudly, feeling as if her throat was closing up.

"Red eyes, brown hair," Elizabeth whispered, an image forming in her mind of a mildly attractive young man. Professor Dumbledore nodded.

"You've been seeing him before," Elizabeth shrugged, looking down.

"Not really, I guess. I mean, I've been seeing red eyes. And I had this weird vision in the crystal ball of men in black hoods, with this weird thing coming out of the sky,"

"What did it look like?" Professor Dumbledore asked, leaning forward on his desk.

"Like a skull. And a snake. It was moving in the clouds," Elizabeth said, remembering the vision in her mind.

"I think this is enough for today, Elizabeth," Professor Dumbledore said, standing up. Elizabeth looked up at him, standing up as well.

"You think I'm a seer," She said, stating a fact. Although it was not a question, the professor nodded.

"I think that you have come across a treacherous road, Elizabeth," The professor said, and Elizabeth at that moment didn't feel afraid: she felt as if she was finally receiving answers.

"I'm muggle-born. How is it possible?"

"You have been blessed and cursed. You have many talents," The professor said, staring at the young girl in front of him. She nodded, her eyes pouring into his.

"So, the nonverbal magic. The weird dreams and thoughts. The ability to perform at great levels, everything is... what, exactly?" Elizabeth asked. The professor thought for a moment before answering.

"A gift. You have received a gift. I would like you to meet me here next Wednesday, Elizabeth. I think it's time that you no longer feel the need to be afraid," The professor smiled at the girl, who nodded and walked silently out of the headmaster's office. As she closed the door behind her, Dumbledore sighed and sat down in his chair, removing his glasses and looking down at his hands. He had hoped he was wrong; but he believed this girl wasn't in for an easy road, let alone one where she can posses such great gifts and not use them.

"Lily," Elizabeth wandered up to her sister during lunch, tapping her shoulder. Lily turned around from her conversation, smiling at her sister.

"Hey sis, what's up?" Lily said, putting her spoon back in a bowl of mash potatoes.

"I need to talk to you," Elizabeth said, her mind still racing from the earlier conversation she had with the headmaster. Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at her friends apologetically.

"Okay," Lily stood up and waved goodbye to her friends, following her sister out of The Great Hall. As she followed her up to the Gryffindor tower, she constantly questioned what this was all about, but Elizabeth refused to respond until they were in their dormitory, the door locked.

"What's going on?" Lily said worriedly as Elizabeth went over to her bed, collapsing on top of it.

"Dumbledore called me into his office this morning,"

"Oh?" Lily asked, walking over and sitting on her own bed, waiting for more information.

"He thinks I'm a seer," Lily's eyes bulged out of her head.

"Have you been having visions?" Lily asked her, leaning forward. Elizabeth closed her eyes, rubbing them in confusion.

"Yes. No. Well, I don't know. I guess. I didn't think they were visions, just weird thoughts and stuff. But Dumbledore thinks I'm a seer and thinks I'm like this talented witch and now I'm really freaked out," Elizabeth said, her eyes still closed. Lily sat in silence for a moment, thinking of how to process the information.

"It'll be fine, Elizabeth. This is really cool, actually. Once you learn to control it, it will be easier," Lily said and Elizabeth nodded, knowing she was right.

"It's also really freaky considering that Dumbledore actually seemed, well, worried,"

"Dumbledore was worried?" Lily asked in a surprised tone, to which Elizabeth only nodded again.

"Legitimately worried. Once he started asking me questions. It was about this guy named Voldemort, a dark wizard I guess. I don't know," Elizabeth sighed and turned over on her stomach, looking at Lily, "you're supposed to be the talented one,"

Lily laughed heartily, "We're both talented, hun,"

"You were born first. You were supposed to be the one who didn't lose any brain cells in the womb,"

"Which I didn't," Lily laughed at her sister again, who smiled slightly.

"He wants me to meet with him next Wednesday," Elizabeth said, shrugging, "I don't know what he wants to do,"

"Maybe clear things up for you. It will be good, I promise," Lily said and Elizabeth suddenly felt better at her sister's words.

"I love you, Lils," Elizabeth said, blowing a kiss over to Lily. Lily laughed and stood up.

"I love you too. Are you okay?" Lily asked, looking at her sister.

"I think so,"

"Then want to go get some lunch?"

"Well," Elizabeth paused, wanting to stay in bed, "I think I should write back mum and grandpappy. And then I guess head on out to classes," Lily nodded at her sister, waving goodbye as she walked out, hoping her sister really was okay.

Of course, Elizabeth didn't actually write her parents back, nor her grandparents. As soon as Lily left, she counted to 20 and then left the dormitory, walking down into the common room. She was grateful that no one was there, giving her the ability to walk up into the boy's dormitory without being noticed. Once she went up several flights of stairs, she finally reached the Marauders bedroom. She smiled and opened it: knowing that no one would be there.

When she walked in, she saw that all of the boy's beds were made for once: which surprised Elizabeth to no end. She sauntered over to Sirius's bed and sat on it, opening up his trunk next to his bed. She found quite a bit of clothes - she had never realized how many pairs of shirts he had - and found what she was looking for. She quickly stripped off her clothes and put on Sirius's boxers and a white dress shirt, breathing in his scent. Elizabeth smiled as she folded up her own clothes and pushed his trunk back underneath the bed. She then curled up on his bed, on top of the comforter and reached for Sirius's nightstand. She took his copy of The Daily Prophet and his slender, black reading glasses - which he never wore - and put them on, laying against his pillow and reading. She knew eventually Sirius would find her, and probably not care, but she appreciated the time to relax.

A half hour passed before Elizabeth heard footsteps coming up the boy's staircase. She glanced at the clock, seeing that it was time for class to start. Lucky for her, Sirius, and Remus, they all had break. She was sure Sirius was coming up here to probably take a nap with the time he had, and Remus was probably in the library. Elizabeth continued to read and when the door opened, she glanced up and smiled at the intruder.

"Why hello there," Elizabeth said, her eyes twinkling over Sirius's reading glasses. Sirius smiled widely and walked over to Elizabeth, kissing her on the lips.

"You have managed to make my clothes look incredibly sexy, darling," He spoke, kissing her again and rubbing his hand up and down her calf, feeling the smoothness of her tanned skin.

"I think you manage to do that all by yourself," Elizabeth said as Sirius crawled into the bed with her, moving his arms around her waist and kissing her neck gently.

"Peter told us you got pulled out by Dumbledore after you put a dung bomb in the greenhouse. You are so adorable, Paws," Sirius laughed, kissing her neck yet again. Elizabeth shrugged and took off Sirius's glasses and sat them on the nightstand.

"He just wanted to talk to me about some stuff," Elizabeth said, shrugging again. Sirius nodded, his grey eyes blending with hers.

"We figured that's why you didn't meet us for lunch outside," Sirius said, causing Elizabeth to nod in response. She didn't want to go too deep into what Dumbledore and her had talked about; not until all the boys were there, at least.

"Yeah, he kept me for a little longer than I had wished. How was class?" Elizabeth asked, moving so she was completely facing him. She rested her chin on his shoulder, waiting for a response.

"James managed to get detention after throwing something straight through Binns," Sirius chuckled at the memory.

"You would think James would know better," Elizabeth shook her head, knowing James would complain for days after his detention with Binns.

"He doesn't always think things through," Sirius chuckled again, kissing Elizabeth passionately. As he started to pull away, Elizabeth prevented him from doing so and put her hand on the back of his head, pulling him closer. She could feel Sirius smile into the kiss as he climbed on top of her, deepening it with more 'tongue action' as she would call it. They hadn't been making out for long before the door opened, causing Sirius to climb off of her.

"Sorry to interrupt," Remus said, laughing and blushing as he walked over to his bed. Sirius groaned, throwing his head back on the pillow in annoyance. Elizabeth patted his arm apologetically, turning to face Remus.

"How are you, Moony?" She said, noticing the bags under his eyes. He sighed, crawling into his bed.

"Full moon tonight," Elizabeth was surprised he wasn't puking like the last time she had seen him during full moon; he had probably gone to Poppy and received some sort of potion to help.

"I'll be there to help ya, buddy," Elizabeth said, smiling at her friend. Remus smiled back.

"I really wish you wouldn't come, Elizabeth," He began, but Elizabeth put her hand up.

"Don't. I'm coming whether you want me to or not," Elizabeth objected, to which Remus sighed loudly. Sirius looked at his friend.

"Moony, don't you know that Elizabeth never takes 'no' for an answer? Especially when she wants to make out and I don't," Sirius joked, winking at his girlfriend. Elizabeth gasped and hit him hard against the chest, laughing only slightly.

"Oh, yeah Padfoot, it's only her that wants to make out. I do believe James told me about what happened in the bathtub," Elizabeth burst out laughing, knowing Sirius was feeling slightly embarrassed by this.

"Oh shut up, Moony," He said, closing his eyes and pulling Elizabeth closer to him, who continued to laugh into his shirt, "shut up, Paws,"

"Oh you love me," Elizabeth said, giving Sirius a peck on the cheek before crawling out of bed and over to the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, seeing she was pulling something out of her skirt that was sprawled across the floor.

"Putting shit in James shampoo. It will turn his hair blue and it will be really long, like yours. And not as soft," Elizabeth said as if this was a normal thing. She walked into the bathroom and found his shampoo bottle, slowly pouring in her potion and shaking the bottle.

"Have you ever realized that you're pure evil?" Sirius asked, laughing at her. She nodded in response.

"Yes, but I figure it will be worth it when he takes a shower tomorrow morning," Elizabeth chuckled, walking back over to Sirius, "just don't tell him it was me,"

"Like he won't already know," Remus mumbled into his pillow.

"I'll tell him it was Peter. Peter's evil," She laughed, throwing her head back.

"So are you," Sirius said, pulling her in to kiss her.


	22. Amortentia

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present]

Author's Note: Hello! Sorry it's been so long: I've been preparing for finals and the end of my school year, as well as my final concert performance! Anyways, here's the chapter. There's a TINY bit of drama between Sirius and Elizabeth, but only for a nanosecond: but after the ball I'm going to try and make it less mushy and have some drama, because to me, drama makes everything!(: I also quoted from Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, to which I put a citation and did a one-item Works Cited at the bottom.

Oh, and if you'd like to know what Lily's third scent was... it was... Cedarwood! To me, I felt like that would be a great scent that James would smell like, because he's outside so often and such an outdoorsy type of person! So, there you go! Although, that probably will be revealed at some point later... but I'd figure for anyone who took the time to read this, you deserve a little spoiler!(: Enjoy!

P.S: Please review! I enjoy getting your feedback and knowing what you would like more of!(:

The night sky was sprinkled with speckles of stars, scattered across the horizon. Some were hidden by rain clouds, getting ready to burst, but most were completely visible. It was as if a dream was taking place; it seemed like no such beauty could ever be witnessed in reality.

Within the thousands of stars that floated across the galaxy, there was a large, luminescent full moon that stood proudly in the center of the sky. It was taking away from the beauty of the stars, the craters and grey rocks shining onto the Earth. It could most certainly be considered beautiful... if you weren't Remus Lupin.

He had already transformed and although he couldn't see the shining moon from inside the shrieking shack, he knew it was there. He howled and scratched at doors, leaving his humanity and conscious behind and throwing it to the wind. He scratched his skin, flakes and fur clumps falling to the broken wooden floor, as he ran around.

James and Peter were watching him scurry around, hoping to help him through the worst time of the month. His eyes shone red, which terrified Peter to all ends, but James simply approached him and butted him with his antlers, knowing he wouldn't hurt him unless suddenly agitated. Remus tilted his fluffy head slightly before batting back at James, hoping to escape his inner demon.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was trying to escape her demon: who at that moment was Sirius Black.

"Sirius, let me go," Elizabeth said, pushing past Sirius as she walked over Hogwarts Grounds, her tennis shoes hitting against the soft, wet grass. Sirius was being exceptionally stubborn in her opinion: at one point, he was very excited for her to be joining he and the boys for full moon. Now, after seeing her slightly out of character earlier that day, he wanted her to return to her dorm and sleep, not to get involved in the mess of playing with a werewolf.

"Elizabeth, please. I just don't think it's smart. I promise you can join us next full moon," Sirius walked up behind her, his steps synchronized with hers as he pleaded for her to stay in the castle.

"I'm fine, Sirius," Elizabeth said, irritation evident in her voice.

"Then tell me why you were upset," Sirius said, waiting for Elizabeth to say something.

"I wasn't upset!" Elizabeth said forcefully, throwing her hands up in the air. She continued to walk briskly, but Sirius wouldn't just let her go.

"Oh, bull shit, Elizabeth. You just randomly appear in my room after you had some talk with Dumbledore and didn't leave my bed until about two hours ago. Something is wrong, just tell me what it is!" Sirius argued, putting his hand on her shoulder and stopping her from walking away. Elizabeth glared at him, feeling unusually angry, before taking a deep breath.

"Dumbledore thinks I'm a seer," Elizabeth said, calmer than she was before. She gazed into Sirius's swirling smoky eyes, awaiting for him to respond.

"Dumbledore thinks you're a seer," Sirius repeated, nodding his head, and trying to process the information.

"Yeah. He thinks I'm a seer. He thinks I have this gift of knowing the future or seeing the past without knowing about it or something, I don't know. We didn't get deep into it; but I've been having weird visions and he thinks that's why. I don't plan on like, being a psychic or anything, but he says I need to be able to get it under control because it could be useful one day. I was just concerned about it and I didn't want to tell you yet, because I wanted to tell all of the guys at once," Elizabeth said, crossing her arms and hoping Sirius would finally let her go.

"Are you scared?" Sirius asked, seeming to read her mind. Elizabeth sighed, staring at her feet.

"I don't know, I've been having dark visions. It's nothing good, at least," Elizabeth said, continuing to stare at the ground. Suddenly, Sirius's finger went underneath her chin and pulled up her face, causing her to look at him.

"It will be fine," Sirius said, smiling at her.

"I know that. I mean, it's not like we found out I'm a demented half-dragon or something," Elizabeth joked, forcing a laugh. Sirius smiled a little wider at her.

"I mean that it's not going to ruin your life, Paws. It's just like having a special gift; being good at Quidditch or good at potions. It doesn't mean you have to do anything with it," Sirius said and Elizabeth nodded, smiling back at him.

"Does this mean I'm allowed to go now?" Elizabeth said, laughing lightly. Sirius nodded, leaning toward her and kissing her on the lips.

"Let's go," She said once he pulled away, a grin plastered on her face as she reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers and running toward the Shrieking Shack.

Once they arrived there, Elizabeth and Sirius let go of each other and transformed into their animagus forms. Elizabeth had forgotten how much Sirius's animagus looked like him; the light in his eyes and the shaggy, black hair. She wanted to smile, but obviously couldn't while she was a fox, so she simply barked and skipped over to him, nipping him on the ear. Sirius barked back, patting her on the head with his paw before running into the shack to meet Remus.

Elizabeth had never seen Remus as a werewolf, so it was a big shock to her. She thought he almost looked tame: his fur matched the color of his hair, his eyes were a scintillating green, seeming to lock with her immediately. Remus could spell her - it hit him like a wave. It was something that this wolf had never smelled before; an intoxicating fragrance that crashed over him. It smelled like... innocence. Purity. Heat. Femininity. The real Remus would have never noticed: but he was no longer himself. He was the wolf of the night.

He sauntered over to Elizabeth, pushing his nose against her fur and inhaling deeply. Elizabeth almost froze in place, feeling awkward as she glanced at Sirius and James, unable to find Peter. The two were glancing at each other, wondering if they were to intervene. However, it wasn't long until Remus pulled away and stepped back, getting an unusual look in his eyes. Elizabeth wished she could tell what he was thinking, but it was only a matter of moments before he howled and went back to destroying the room, ignoring the animals.

Elizabeth shook her head, looking down at her paws. She liked the feeling of the broken wood pressing against the pads of her feet; she had never really been in her animagus form. She was sure that while she was in the hospital that the boys practiced a lot, but she was feeling like she was out of her element. She glided over to her friends, pushing them with her feet and barking. To Sirius, it was like a laugh was evident in her bark, hitting the walls of the room and reaching him: it made him want to smile, even if they were now just two animals.

The night passed by slowly for the Marauders. There wasn't much adventure - Remus was unusually calm - and on more than one occasion Elizabeth wanted to leave and go to sleep. Once Remus finished his transformation at about five in the morning, James carried his sleeping, scarred figure up to the castle and to Madame Pompfry.

Elizabeth, Sirius, and Peter quickly scurried out of The Shrieking Shack and transformed out on the ground just as the sun was peaking out behind the trees. Elizabeth rubbed her eyes, yawning loudly as her feet struck the ground. She stretched her arms above her head, glancing up at the sky.

"Ah, shit, we have classes," Elizabeth swore, hating this day more than anything. She was glad to help Remus, but she really didn't want to go to class.

"We could ditch," Sirius suggested, yawning as well.

"Can't. If we ditch I don't trust that McGonagall won't say we can't be in the match tomorrow," Elizabeth said, referring to the Quidditch match that took place the next day. Elizabeth reminded herself to go to bed early so that she wouldn't be exhausted at the game.

"Do you think James will excuse me from practice tonight?" Elizabeth and Peter glanced at each other, both bursting out into laughter. Sirius sighed, glaring at the two, wishing that they were wrong, "yeah, I know,"

Elizabeth was ecstatic by the time her final class came around: potions. It was the only class she had with all four of her friends, plus her sister - she assumed that most of the teachers knew better than to put them all together. She was exhausted by this point, drinking coffee as to stay awake for as long as possible, but she kept dozing off during the lesson.

"Liz," Lily hissed, poking her sister in the side. Elizabeth lazily glanced at her, but Lily wasn't looking at her. As Elizabeth followed her sister's gaze, she realized that Professor Slughorn was staring expectantly at her.

"I'm sorry, uhm, professor," Elizabeth started, yawning, "can you repeat the question?"

"Certainly Ms. Evans, but please do try to pay attention next time! Can you please direct me to the use of an Erumpent horn?" Elizabeth quickly rummaged through her memory before shooting out an answer.

"Erumpent horn is used to cause items to explode. For potions that need to to have entropy, it is helpful because it can speed up the reaction, as long as it's in a confined environment," Elizabeth said, receiving a broad smile from Professor Slughorn.

"Excellent, Elizabeth! Ten points to Gryffindor!" Professor Slughorn said, smiling yet again before turning to the board and vigorously writing the name of the potion that the students would be performing.

"Amortentia, sir? Love potion?" A scrawny Slytherin said excitedly. She eyed Lucius Malfoy, who was sitting beside Severus Snape, hopefully.

"Yes, Ms. Bottons! Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession," (186) Professor Slughorn said, slowly walking about the room, "Now do be careful, this potion isn't too difficult, no; however I do usually only perform this with sixth years, so feel special! Now, please partner up with the people beside you and open your textbooks to page 459, the instructions will be there. You have the entire class period, but please try not to explode anything!"

Elizabeth quickly turned to page 459, to which her sister Lily was already opened to and grabbing the ingredients for both of them. Elizabeth scanned over the ingredients: _one Ashwinder egg, seven rose thorns, a pinch of dried peppermint, one scoop of crushed moonstone powder, four petals from an aged Belladonna. _Elizabeth questioned why the professor had possibly brought up Erumpent horns, but she figured it was one of Slughorn's quirky personality failures.

"Okay," Lily came back, smiling broadly as she set all of the ingredients and her cauldron on the counter, "let's get a head on, huh?"

"Cool, cool," Elizabeth said, smiling at her sister, "'Fill the cauldron up half way with water, then heat the cauldron up to 366 degrees Kelvin. Cauldron should be steaming and simmering gently.' Okay, water, _aguamenti," _The cauldron quickly filled up with water and Elizabeth skimmed over the instructions as Lily turned on the heater, waiting for the water to begin simmering.

"Hey, Paws!" James called over to Elizabeth. Elizabeth turned around and raised an eyebrow, rubbing her exhausted eyes.

"Yes, Prongs?" She questioned as James waved at her.

"You better get sleep tonight, little girl. You need to be up at 5 tomorrow to meet us out on the pitch at 6! Game started at 11, so we'll practice and warm up for a couple hours. Eat well, too! And look good, maybe you can distract Amos Diggory from getting the snitch," James said, smirking. Elizabeth rolled her eyes before responding.

"Prongs, what part of 'I don't do practices before a game' don't you understand?" Elizabeth said, hoping to get out of it.

"Oh, Elizabeth, you act like I haven't known you! We all know that's only for the days before the game: the day of the game you practice tons! So don't lie," James said, smiling at her, "just get some sleep. Go to dinner with us, then sleep. Simple as that,"

Just as Elizabeth was about to respond, James yelped as Sirius stabbed him with a rose thorn. James pulled it out of his skin before glaring at Sirius, "what the fuck was that for?"

"Language, boys!" Professor Slughorn said from across the room, waving dismissively at James. James shrugged before turning to Sirius.

"Your whining is making me want to cut your foot off," Sirius said, sitting down in his chair and leaning back.

As James and Sirius began arguing, Elizabeth turned back to her sister, who was looking longingly at Severus as the cauldron began to simmer.

"He's an ass, Lily," Elizabeth said, knowing that her sister missed having her friend. Lily nodded before looking back at her sister and sighing.

"I know," Lily faked a smile before turning back to the book, "'Add one Ashwinder egg to the simmering cauldron. Stir gently until the egg dissolves and the potion begins to boil,'" Elizabeth picked up their egg and dropped it in the cauldron, causing a _plunk. _Lily quickly pulled out her stirring rod from her backpack and stirred it gently, watching the egg slowly disintegrate into the water as the water began angrily bubbling.

"So are you excited for the game?" Lily asked, casually making chitchat with her sister.

"Of course! We're going to kick some Hufflepuff ass," Elizabeth smiled, seeing her sister roll her eyes at the prospect of her boyfriend being in a bad mood from losing, "who are you cheering for?"

"Well, you're my sister, so you of course... but I might secretly want Hufflepuff to win!" Lily chuckled, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the ball on Saturday? You and Amos are still on for it?" Elizabeth leaned against the cold black table, gazing at her sister.

"We are. His tie is going to match my dress," Lily said, smiling and blushing. Elizabeth now rolled her eyes.

"You've got to be joking. That's tacky," Elizabeth said, to which Lily scoffed loudly.

"Just because you have no prospect of romance and cuteness doesn't mean I don't!" Lily said, laughing.

"Uhm, Lily, who was the one who had a boyfriend ask her to the dance with a shitton of flowers?" Elizabeth bent over the cauldron, seeing it was boiling and the egg had disappeared, "'Add seven rose thorns, one at a time, and then a pinch of dried peppermint. Give one clockwise stir, then proceed to add one scoop of Moonstone powder. Stir counter-clockwise 12 times. Mother-of-pearl sheen should now appear,'" Elizabeth quoted as she picked up the rose thorns, dropping each in one at a time. Once finished, she allowed Lily to add the rest of the ingredients and perform such actions.

"What the bloody hell is 'mother-of-pearl' sheen?" Elizabeth heard Peter question from behind her. Elizabeth chuckled as she turned around, looking at a distraught Remus.

"It's spiraling steam, Wormtail," Elizabeth said, smiling. Peter let out a loud 'oh' before turning to Remus and smiling widely. Elizabeth shook her head and looked back at her sister, who was stirring and counting vigorously. Once Lily finished, she looked at Elizabeth and waited for the rest of the instructions.

"'Lastly, add four petals from the Belladonna flower at once. The potion should turn a light salmon and begin to smell like your three favorite scents. The steam rising should continue to spiral,'" Elizabeth said, adding the flower petals to the potion. Suddenly, her senses were bombarded as the potion turned to pink, the steam running up and down the sides of the cauldron. To Elizabeth, she smelled the overwhelming scents of fresh cinnamon, a broomstick handle, and what Elizabeth thought was spearmint, which happened to be the flavor of Sirius's toothpaste. Elizabeth smiled and looked at Sirius, who was still leaning back in his chair as James finished the potion. He soon figured out that Elizabeth was staring at him and he grinned, putting his chair back on all fours and walking over to his girlfriend.

He came over and wrapped his arms around her, inhaling deeply and kissing her neck.

"What do you smell?" Elizabeth asked, continuing to smile as Lily lingered over the potion, obviously lost in thought.

"Brownies, salt water, and lilac with lemon," Elizabeth smiled at his response, knowing that her shampoo had lilac and lemon scents. She turned around and kissed Sirius sweetly before pushing him away, "smells like you," Elizabeth smiled again as she winked at her, walking over to James.

Elizabeth turned around and quickly bottled up the potion, causing Lily to move out of her trance. Elizabeth was pouring the pink potion in a small vile when she spoke to Lily, "what did you smell?"

"A treacle tart, old books, and..." Lily trailed off, blushing madly as she sat down, flipping her hands through her hair. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, seeing if she would finish: which she never did, causing Elizabeth to wonder what she possibly could smell.

Elizabeth sauntered up to Professor Slughorn, handing him the vile. The professor turned away from helping to struggling Slytherins to open the vile and inhale deeply.

"Wonderful, Elizabeth! And to Lily, too! I most certainly could be in love! I smell lime, sandal, and the distinct smell of the Elixir of Life! Bravo!" The professor spoke, corking the vile yet again and slipping it into his pocket. Elizabeth smiled and walked back over to her sister, telling her that they had managed to actually brew an accurate potion.

Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine, 2005. Print.


	23. Quidditch At Last

Not A Flower is based upon the Harry Potter series written by JK Rowling. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Raincoast Books [Copyright©1995 to present]

It was the perfect day for quidditch: the sun was rising, covered with multitudes of puffy clouds, and the air was humid. There was no wind, it was as if the world stood still, and Elizabeth couldn't be more excited. She had woken up at 4:45 in the morning after a long night of restful sleep - of which she desperately needed - and felt rested. She quickly pulled on a bronze colored tank top and a pair of short, black track shorts. She pulled her wavy blonde hair up into a high ponytail and quietly jogged out of the tower and outside to the Quidditch pitch.

She breathed in the soft air and smiled, her sneakers beginning to pound against the wet grass as she ran around the quidditch pitch. Her breathing increased gradually as she ran faster and faster, warming up her body for what she knew was going to be a hell of a quidditch practice, curtesy of James.

It had only been about 15 minutes of intense running before Elizabeth paused, bending over and conjuring a bottle of water to practically inhale. After she had gulped it down, she noticed a figure running at her at full speed. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and wiped off sweat from her forehead.

"Hey," Anthony called out, pausing in front of her. He was dressed in a completely red track suit, his brunette hair soaked and stringy around his forehead.

"Hey," Elizabeth breathed, "I didn't know you ran,"

Anthony nodded, smiling as he covered his eyes from the peeking sun, "Every day. I get out at about 4:30 and run laps around the lake and the school,"

"And you're not on quidditch?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.

"I don't have aim for my life, but I can run a mile in about six minutes," Anthony said. Elizabeth smiled at him, glancing at the quidditch pitch.

"I can do it in five," Elizabeth said, provoking him. Anthony laughed and shook his head.

"You're too small, I think you're lying," He said, reaching out and taking a swig from Elizabeth's water bottle.

"Wanna bet?" Elizabeth said, crossing her arms threateningly, but still grinning. Anthony nodded at her, "Okay, it's two laps around the Quidditch pitch to get a mile. Ready to get your ass kicked?"

Once Anthony and Elizabeth decided on their starting point at the edge of the pitch, Anthony counted off to three and the two Gryffindors began racing at full speed. Almost immediately Anthony had a good two yard ahead of Elizabeth, but Elizabeth simply kept her speed, knowing that Anthony would slow down once he figured Elizabeth would go slower. For an entire lap around the pitch, Elizabeth was behind, until suddenly Elizabeth sprinted forward and dashed past him, bolting further and further ahead of him.

"Hey!" Anthony called out, laughter and exhaustion radiating in his voice, but Elizabeth simply smiled to herself and continued running, her breathing shallow and fast. It wasn't long until Anthony was right next to her, the two of them keeping the same pace.

"You're not going to win this," Anthony breathed, reaching his hand up to his head. Elizabeth shook her head, trying to focus on the goal, only a quarter of a lap away.

"Watch me!" Elizabeth said, picking up her pace. Her feet struck the ground loudly, grass and dirt occasionally flying out about her. She could hear Anthony attempting to catch up with her, but soon Elizabeth crossed what they had agreed on as the finish line and she did a loud victory dance before Anthony shortly crossed it.

"Jesus, you run fast," Anthony breathed, his arms clutched at his aching sides. Elizabeth shrugged, refilling her water bottle and chugging most of it down.

"It's Quidditch. You can't be a weak girl," Elizabeth spoke, squinting and trying to cool off.

"Well, you certainly aren't," Anthony said. The two stayed in silence as they sat down on the damp grass, waiting for their breathing to even out. Once it had, Anthony turned toward Elizabeth, "so are you going to the dance with Sirius?"

Elizabeth nodded, handing Anthony her water bottle, "Yeah, he asked me awhile ago. Who are you going with?"

Anthony shrugged nonchalantly, gazing out at the stands, "No one, right now,"

Elizabeth looked at the ground, picking diligently at the blades of grass before an idea crossed her mind, "Do you know Aurelia?"

"The French transfer student? Yeah, she's in my herbology class. Why?" Anthony said, tilting his head at Elizabeth.

"She doesn't have a date," Elizabeth said matter-of-factly, grinning.

"How does she not have a date?" Anthony asked in disbelief.

"She just doesn't. You should ask her," Elizabeth suggested as she stood up, stretching her arms above her head.

"Hmmm, only if we win the game," Anthony smiled, standing up as well.

"And if we don't?" Elizabeth questioned as she took back her water bottle and caused it to disappear.

"Then," Anthony trailed off, thinking, "then you have to go with me,"

Elizabeth laughed, shaking her head, "Be prepared to take Aurelia!"

Elizabeth and Anthony soon said their goodbyes at around 5:20 in the morning, where Elizabeth jogged over to the girl's changing room and took a scalding shower. When she got out, her towel wrapped tight around her, she saw another one of the girls in the changing room.

"Hey Marcella," Elizabeth said kindly. The black haired girl looked up from her stretching and smiled widely at Elizabeth. Marcella Brooks was a shy chaser, who had a mean guard and was a fantastic quidditch player. She was a year older than Elizabeth and absolutely adored the game.

"Hey Elizabeth," She said quietly, standing up from the bench, "ready for the game?"

"Not until James pummels me," Elizabeth smiled, "but yes, I shall be. And you?"

"Quite! I've been ready my entire life," Marcella said, smiling again as she adjusted her Quidditch uniform.

Elizabeth chuckled, wandering over to the mirror. Marcella went back to stretching - now doing push ups - as Elizabeth stripped off her towel and quickly put on her uniform. She put on her blue shirt before her tight red and golden jersey and elbow, shoulder, and knee pads. She pulled on a pair of tight blue sweats and stretched, looking at herself in the mirror. She couldn't stand the fact that her tight outfit outlined her body much more than she wanted, but was generally happy with the outcome. Elizabeth reached over and pulled out her wand, magically drying and straightening it before whipping her wand around her hair, causing strands to pull up and create a long braid, then wrap itself in a delicate bun. Elizabeth smiled, flicking her wand to cut off stray strands from her bangs and then said goodbye to Marcella, striding into the Castle to grab breakfast.

When she went in, she saw James and Sirius sitting there, already in their uniforms. There were few people in the Great Hall, except for members of the quidditch teams from both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, and Elizabeth was thankful that the noise was low.

"Hey, Paws!" James said excitedly, waving over Elizabeth. Elizabeth smiled and jogged over to the table, slipping in beside him.

"Hey, ready for a gruesome game?" Elizabeth said jokingly, smiling.

"They're Hufflepuffs, they aren't very gruesome," Sirius spoke, smiling at his girlfriend. Elizabeth chuckled, bending over the table to grab a piece of toast and munching on it happily.

"I suppose, but gotta put your best effort in, right?" Elizabeth swallowed a large glass of orange juice and then smiled brightly.

"Or we let them off easy so they don't get their poor little feelings hurt," James said sarcastically, batting his eyelashes.

"You look like a girl when you do that," Elizabeth said as she reached across the table to grab a piece of bacon.

"You're such a bitch," James mumbled, slouching in the bench and eating his eggs very sloppily.

"And you're going to make a mess!" Elizabeth scolded as eggs began flying all over his uniform. Elizabeth unhooked her hand from Sirius's and took James's fork, grabbed some eggs, and held them to his mouth, "open"

"Are you joking?" James said, glancing at Sirius who was chuckling lightly.

"I refuse to give you a spell to clean your uniform. Now open," Elizabeth said, raising her eyebrows and nodding expectantly. James rolled his eyes and swiftly grabbed the fork, shoving the food into his mouth - dropping several small chunks of scrambled eggs down his shirt.

"Boys," Elizabeth mumbled, finishing the rest of her food in two swift bites, "Now, I need to go to the girls room to freshen up. I'll meet you on the pitch, okay?" Elizabeth spoke, smiling at the boys before standing up, waving goodbye.

"You look fine!" Sirius called out at her, smiling wickedly. Elizabeth turned around and rolled her eyes before she continued walking out of The Great Hall. As she took the long hallway down to the girl's bathroom on the first floor, she hummed a quiet tune to herself and skipped down quite a ways before she heard footsteps coming in her direction. As she slowed her paced and paused her humming, she saw Severus Snape, tired and gloomy, walking around the corner.

Elizabeth took a deep breath before she smiled at him: once he saw her, his scowl deepened upon his face and he quickened his pace. He quickly stepped past her, but Elizabeth spoke up.

"Sev, wait," Elizabeth spoke and Severus stopped automatically. With his books awkwardly in his hands, he impatiently awaited for her to say something. Elizabeth approached him - his back still to her - before she spoke quietly, "I want you to know I forgive you."

Severus immediately whipped around, a glare resonating, "I don't need your forgiveness,"

Elizabeth took another breath as his voice penetrated her, but she simply tried again, "I know, but... I know that you were waiting outside the common room for Lily to apologize to her, and she's stubborn and never came. I know you don't care much for me, but I never encouraged the boys to act harshly against you. I always asked them not to and... and I've always felt terrible, so apologetic. I've missed having you as a friend for five years. I miss when you, Lily, and I used to play out in the playground near that school and I once set that tree on fire. You were the first one who told us about being witches. I miss it, I wish you would understand that I'm not like them," Elizabeth spoke, regret evident in her voice.

Severus's glare softened as he glanced at the floor, shifting his weight, before glaring back up at her, "You're one of them,"

He didn't have to explain what he meant: Elizabeth knew what he was talking about, "I know, and I know we'll never be friends. I wish we could be but... I understand, really. They've been jerks. Just, Severus, think about it. Should I hate you just because you converse with Malfoy? Or just because you're a Slytherin? Should I hate you because I know that you're a half-blood? It's stupid, Sev. I haven't done anything to you... so, just, think about it," Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and turned around, the clanking of her Quidditch uniform echoing about the hallway as Severus stood, alone and cold, wondering if he could ever forgive the one who had the green eyes like Lily's.

Elizabeth and Sirius were taking loops around the goal posts, swinging their bats wildly as the Hufflepuff team continued to pile the two bludgers in their direction. Harold Munslow had already swung one of the bludgers in the direction of Joey, just barely grazing his ear and causing him to almost fall off his broom and plummet to the ground below. The sweat was pouring off of the player's as the game continued on to the first hour. No one could understand why the game was taking as long as it was: Hufflepuff usually lost within the first twenty to thirty minutes. It appeared that both the seeker for Hufflepuff, Arnold Greenswa, and the Gryffindor seeker Jeffry Dunst were having trouble finding the snitch as the light pounded down on them.

"Dammit, Jeffry! I've already been hit with a bludger twice and a quaffle once! I'm about ready to kill someone if you don't find that bloody snitch NOW!" Elizabeth screamed to Jeffry, about twenty feet away from her, who was frantically searching the field for the flick of gold. Elizabeth wiped the beads of sweat off of her forehead with her bruised arm just before she roughly pummeled the bludger coming at her in the direction of Munslow.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! I can't help the fact that the bloody sun is blinding me!" Jeffry said as he spun his broom around, seeing Arnold start to fly toward the stands, but then stop abruptly, scratching his head in wonder.

"Use your bloody wand you stupid oaf! Cast an anti-glare charm!" Elizabeth said as she saw Sirius flying in circles, keeping the bludger at bay as it stormed toward Scottie before throwing it straight toward one of the other Hufflepuff beaters, Angelina Fines.

"Oh, yeah, I hadn't thought of that..." The sixth year seeker spoke, pulling out his wand and pointing it at himself, whisking it slightly as suddenly his eyes brightened up, happy he could see, "I think I found it!" Jeffry screamed out, but of course, as Arnold was flying near him, Arnold heard and began following Jeffry as he flew out to the opposite side of the Quidditch pitch, bending his broom down low.

"Stupid oaf!" Sirius called as he rolled his eyes and flung the bludger toward a Slytherin. Scottie nodded in agreement as he flew around, watching Jeffry and Arnold battle it out to find the snitch.

"Watch out!" Elizabeth called out to Scottie, who just barely dodged a stray quaffle flying toward his head. He nodded his appreciation toward Elizabeth, who simply shook her head and turned back to surveying the game.

Soon, however, the announcer - some Ravenclaw Elizabeth knew not of - began screaming how Dunst had caught the snitch, making it so Gryffindor had won 360 to 120. The Gryffindor side of the stadium all stood on their feet, cheering loudly as red colors began swarming over the stands. The Gryffindor team began flying toward the ground, swarming around Jeffry to give them their appreciation. Elizabeth and Scottie high-fived each other as they flew down, screaming loudly and encouraging the crowd.

It wasn't soon before people were leaving the stands and either heading back to the common rooms for celebration or to the field for congratulations. Elizabeth went up to James as she pushed past many swooning girls and jumped on his shoulders, kissing his cheek.

"Bloody brilliant! When you scored that goal past Bones, I could have sworn he was about to lose his mind!" Elizabeth chuckled, jumping off his back and giving him a tight hug. Elizabeth screamed as he picked her up, swinging her around before putting her back on the ground.

"And you! If you hadn't told Jeffry about casting an anti-glare charm, we would have been out there for weeks!" James said, smacking her on the arm slightly. Elizabeth smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, he owes me for that one, doesn't he?" She said as a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"I sure do!" Jeffry's voice echoed in her ears as she turned around, grinning widely, "Thank you so much! I couldn't have done it without you,"

"No problem, great job catching the snitch! It almost looked like you were going to fall," Elizabeth said, smiling as she patted him on the back.

"I was about to!" Jeffry laughed, shaking his head, "give Scottie a pat on the back, okay? He did bloody brilliant!"

"Alright, go have fun!" Elizabeth smiled as Jeffry walked away and turned around to see Remus, Peter, and Sirius.

"You did incredible, Elizabeth. Congratulations," Remus said tiredly, the scars on his face gleaming in the sun. Remus smiled at her brightly, however, and gave her a tight hug.

"Thanks, Moony," She said, pulling away and smiling at Peter before looking at Sirius and shaking her head.

"You saved me when I damn near got hit by that ruddy bludger a third time! I could kill Munslow," Elizabeth said, hugging Sirius, who kissed the top of her head.

"No problem, just wish I could have hit him in the bloody face. He really seemed after you today," Sirius spoke. Elizabeth pulled away and shrugged, wondering why he was rougher than usual.

"Hufflepuffs usually don't play dirty," She rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms above her head, staring at the clear blue sky before looking back at her friends.

"Whatever, we still kicked their ass. Let's go set up the celebration," Peter squeaked, smiling dimly as he walked off the pitch with his friends.


	24. On Thin Ice

When Elizabeth woke up on Saturday, her sheets were in a pile around her bed and a bottle of emptied Firewhisky was on her nightstand. Her head ached to the point where Elizabeth could have killed Dumbledore for an aspirin as she tried to remember the events of the night before. She remembered going to the common room, finding the banners already hanging and the party rockin'. She remembered James giving her bottle after bottle of Firewhisky, then Anthony, drunk to the point where he could barely stand up straight, kissed Aurelia, asking her to the dance, to which she eagerly agreed. She recalled making out with Sirius and then finding Lily in the corner, drinking Firewhisky and dancing with Mary MacDonald as she laughed and toppled over herself. Most of the night, however, was one big blur that seemed to be spinning around in her head.

As she groaned and pulled herself out of bed, she searched for a hangover potion in her nightstand. When she came upon it, she downed it quickly and felt immediate relief, then pulled the curtains away from her bed to only be met that she was certainly not in her room. The Marauders were all crashed out on top of their beds or on the floor, in only their boxers and ties. Elizabeth looked down at herself and noticed she was in her matching leopard bra and underwear, then at the floor where Sirius was snoring soundly on a pile of muggle cards. Strip poker.

"Jesus," She laughed quietly, walking around the sleeping figures as she searched for her clothes. She soon found her pair of jeans and tank top which she pulled over her head. Elizabeth struggled to pull her pants on, and when she finally did, she saw that James was already awake.

"What the hell happened last night?" She asked as she strode over to his bed, bending over him.

"We got bloody wasted, that's what. To think we have to do that ball today, shit," James said, rubbing his temples. Elizabeth's eyes widened and searched for a clock. It was 12:15.

"SHIT! I'm supposed to meet Lily in 45 minutes in Hogsmeade to get our hair and nails done!" Elizabeth remembered the agreement she made with her sister as they were dress shopping. She quickly stepped over the boys on the floor and made her way downstairs into the common room, where she toppled over first years and ran up to her room, noticing it was empty. Swearing profusely, she stripped off her clothes and began to climb into the shower, only to see Anthony sleeping soundly in the shower. Elizabeth screamed loudly and grabbed a towel to cover herself, waking Anthony up. He awoke quickly, awfully confused.

"Whoa," He said, looking up and down Elizabeth. Elizabeth rolled her eyes before she glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" She growled, tightening the towel around her body.

"Aurelia and I got up here... not sure how... anyways, I went into the bathroom for some reason and passed out... and then Lily woke me up this morning and I think I went back into Aurelia's bed, and then... it's blank," He stood up, shaking his head and grinning sloppily at Elizabeth.

"No one is even here! Ugh, doesn't matter, shoo! I have to be in Hogsmeade at one!" Elizabeth shoved a chuckling Anthony out of the room as she climbed into the shower, swearing at herself as the steam began clouding the bathroom mirrors.

Lily was impatiently waiting at the salon in Hogsmeade, glancing down at her watch every minute as the stylist walked past her often, glaring harshley. Just as she was about to get up and go find Elizabeth herself - who was already 15 minutes late - Elizabeth came running through the door. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, still dripping wet, and she was dressed in a pair of ratty gray sweats.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Elizabeth said, breathing heavily as she flung her bag next to a salon chair and awaited for the hair stylist to come over. Lily rolled her eyes and sat next to Elizabeth, putting her feet in the bucket of water in front of her as two women circled around Lily, asking her what she wanted for hair.

"Darling, what do you want?" a petite black-haired women came by, her hair pulled up in an Asian styled bun, her makeup piled on her. She chewed on a pen as she looked at Elizabeth, glancing at Lily who was ecstatic to be pampered over.

"Oh, I don't know," Elizabeth shrugged, glancing at the mirror in front of her, "maybe leave it down, curl it? I don't know, whatever you think will work," Elizabeth lifted her hand to mess with her hair, but the stylist swatted it away and rolled her eyes, her nasally voice ringing.

"Alright, curly, I can do that. We'll put a pretty little jewel in the back and you'll look gorgeous," The stylist said, clapping her hands with feigned enthusiasm. As another women came by and began massaging Elizabeth's feet, Elizabeth glanced at Lily who had her eyes closed as the stylist began snipping away at her hair.

"So, what happened last night?" Elizabeth questioned, looking at Lily through the mirror. Lily opened one eye and began chuckling, careful not to shake her head.

"Well, Aurelia and Anthony hooked up. They're going to the dance today, not sure where Aurelia disappeared off to: I think she's with Marlene. Then, you and the boys were dancing like crazy and singing this odd wizard song I had never heard of. It was pretty much drinking and partying, then you disappeared with the boys at the end of the party. Which was about four in the morning," Lily said, laughing as she massaged her neck.

"Jesus," Elizabeth mumbled, blinking slowly, "I remember bits and pieces, but not a lot. I must have been really wasted,"

"Yeah, no shit. You damn started stripping when David Tungsteen asked you to said you had a smokin' body," Lily remembered the scene, Elizabeth stripping off her Quidditch shirt to show her bra before sirius came over and hexed David.

"Oh, shit. Well, good to know. I don't remember ever drinking that much," Elizabeth said as the stylist signaled for her to walk a few feet to get her hair washed. Lily followed her stylist as well and glanced at Elizabeth who looked absolutely petrified.

"Don't worry about it, I'm pretty sure that James spiked the punch. You only had one bottle of Firewhisky before switching to punch. I was pretty wasted, too," Lily said and Elizabeth glared at no one, thinking about how she was going to punish James for getting her wasted off her rocker.

It was another three hours before the girls had finished their entire routine: their hair, nails, and makeup was done. It was now four o'clock and the girl's had two hours before the dinner began, which the ball followed.

"What are we going to do?" Lily glanced at her reflection from a window and admired her straight, red hair cascading down her shoulders. There was a small Lily flower that dangled by her ear and was clipping part of her hair back, showing her long earrings. Her makeup was basic: natural colors except for her eyes, which were lined with black eyeliner and mascara, as well as light lavender eyeshadow.

"I suppose we can go get a butterbeer, or stop by Zonkos," Elizabeth said, fingering her ringlets and fuzzing up her bangs so that they were messy, yet elegant across her forehead. She wore almost no makeup, except for a light, salmon lip stick and black mascara and eyeliners, which made her green eyes sparkle in the sunlight.

"Let's pick up a drink, sure. As long as we avoid alcohol," Lily chuckled as she grabbed Elizabeth's arms and began running toward The Three Broomsticks, rushing into the musky filled bar. Many of the Hogwarts students were in the pub, and as they chatted away, heads began turning toward the twins, jaws dropping just at the sight of their faces.

"Awkward," Elizabeth droned, pulling Lily toward the bar and sitting on a wooden stool, scratching it across the tile floor. Elizabeth whistled over Tom, who scurried over and smiled a barely-tooth smile.

"The usual?" Tom questioned, pulling out a Firewhisky.

"Nah, Tom, thanks. A Butterbeer will do me fine," Elizabeth smiled, "one for my lovely sister here, too"

Tom nodded, slightly disappointed, and handed the two girls their Butterbeers. As Tom walked away, Elizabeth cracked open her bottle and took a long swig.

"How have you possibly been able to get Firewhisky here?" Lily questioned, glancing at Tom who was at the other end of the bar.

"James's parents know him. Not sure how, but he's pretty lenient with us. As long as we don't get drunk," Elizabeth nodded, taking another sip of her drink.

"Alright, I can't believe I've never asked this, but how many times have you been drunk?" Lily asked, turning towards her sister.

"Last night was my first. Usually I have one Firewhisky and it gives me a little energy, but no where near intoxicated. I then go straight to water," Elizabeth said, knowing Lily would be happy.

"Oh, thank God," She breathed in relief, leaning against the bar. Elizabeth laughed lightly before scanning the bar.

"Malfoy looks really bloody unhappy," Elizabeth said, locking eyes with Lucius Malfoy's cold, crystal blue eyes. He seemed to be checking her out, his eyes gliding up and down her body, even though it was covered by ripped sweats and an off-the-shoulder sweatshirt.

"So do Crabbe and Goyle," Lily nodded toward the two tall, thin boys by Lucius who were blabbing about something that didn't seem to interest the blond at all.

"He gives me the creeps," Elizabeth mumbled, turning back to the bar, tracing her fingers across the dusty granite.

"Join the club. Why Sev hangs out with him, I just don't know," Lily sighed, noticing that the door bell had rung and Severus came strutting in, throwing a discrete glance toward Lily and her sister.

"I know. I think it's his family, you know? He's been beaten and bruised and treated like shit and now he's just an absolute arse to everyone," Elizabeth took another gulp of her Butterbeer and stared at Severus, who smiled softly at the boys. Yet again, Severus glimpsed at the girls before looking at Lucius and discussing something of mediocre interest.

"Doesn't give him the right to be a fucking asshole," Lily mumbled, pulling her drink up to her lips and downing the last of it.

"A little snarky, huh?" Elizabeth joked, but she knew she was speaking the truth: yet again, Lily had the temper of a fierce tigress, and she couldn't help but let it show when discussing someone she detested.

"He had no right!" Lily spoke, shaking her head, "he had no right to call either of us mudbloods. I hate him,"

"Lily," Elizabeth said quietly, putting her hand on Lily's knee, "he really regrets it. That first year told me he waited outside the common room all night for you,"

"And not for you! He wants to apologize to me, not to you. He said it to you, not to me. You deserve an apology!" Lily stated in an all-knowing tone as she signaled for Tom to get her another drink.

"I don't need an apology, I know he feels bad. We did used to be friends. I remember that time where you had that flower, and it was opening and closing its petals and Petunia was freaking out? Severus explained it to us... It had been, what, a year before our letters came?" Elizabeth pondered.

"A year at least. It was right after our 10th birthday, I think. We didn't really discuss it much afterwards, you know? Petunia hated whenever Severus mentioned it, she would storm off, so we made a pact not to talk about it," Lily stared longingly at Severus, yet some detest was still evident in her eyes.

"You would forgive him if he apologized," Elizabeth nodded her thanks as Tom brought over Lily's drink and took her own.

"Damn right I wouldn't!" Lily said, snapping open her bottle, "ridiculous. It's unforgivable. He's a Slytherin for a reason,"

Elizabeth stayed quiet as she considered the words that came tumbling out of Lily's mouth: at one point, Lily used to believe that no matter what house you were in, we were all equal. Now, after Severus made a mistake in saying the most hated word, she couldn't forgive him. Elizabeth sighed and looked around the bar, locking eyes with Severus, who, for just a second, gave her a small smile before returning to his hard stare and talking to Lucius.

"He is sorry," Elizabeth mumbled to herself, quiet enough so that Lily didn't hear, "maybe we should go, it'll take awhile to get back,"

"Alright," Lily pulled out a couple knuts and placed them on the counter, grabbing her drink and walking out, Elizabeth close behind.

As much as Elizabeth loved her friends and her sister, she was incredibly impatient when it came to waiting for them to emerge from the bathroom. Elizabeth had been ready for over 30 minutes: she pulled on her dress, put on some silver jewelry, and was ready to go meet Sirius downstairs to eat early. However, Lily, Aurelia, and Marlene were insistent on spending as much time as possible to make sure they looked absolutely perfect.

"For Christ sakes, it's ten minutes to six. I'd really like to eat before my stomach crawls out of my mouth and devours you three," Elizabeth said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. Her dress crinkled slightly and Elizabeth adjusted her straps, sighing loudly and awaiting for the girls to emerge from the bathroom.

"Okay, I think we're ready!" It was Lily who first came out, her ivory dress hugging her delicate curves lightly, her bright, fiery red hair hanging down her shoulders. Elizabeth smiled her approval, knowing that James would be incredibly jealous that Amos had gotten such a beautiful creature.

Next, it was Aurelia, who looked like she had put some extra effort into looking amazing for Anthony. Her chestnut hair was pin straight, pouring down right past her bust. She had on an incredible sexy red gown, which had a slit on the side and was a halter top. She went simple with her makeup: all natural and she also chose not to wear jewelry. Elizabeth felt suddenly self-conscious, but also incredibly happy that Anthony was able to go with her.

Finally, Marlene sauntered out, her blond hair pulled up in an elegant bun, curls flowing out in various parts. Her purple, haltered dress made her look incredibly seductive, showing off her body. She was smiling widely, glancing at the mirror and making sure her cat-like makeup was absolutely perfect.

"Girls, you look sexy, gorgeous, and beautiful. Really. Now let's go before I starve to death," Elizabeth stood up, smiling at her friends. The girls, however, were gawking at Elizabeth.

"Who knew you could clean up?" Marlene joked, receiving a glare from Elizabeth, "no, seriously, Elizabeth, you look gorgeous. There are going to be so many girls that are going to want to kill you: especially because you're with Sirius,"

"Oh, well, thanks," Elizabeth said awkwardly, petting the pearls around her neck before lifting her dress off the ground and walking out of the room and down the stairs. When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, she saw Sirius awaiting her, smiling brightly.

He strolled over to her, glancing up and down her body before finally arriving and placing his hand upon her cheek, "You look beautiful,"

Elizabeth smiled shyly and looked over Sirius, who was wearing a black tux, a small bow tie, and looked incredibly handsome as his muscles shined through the midnight blazer.

"You don't look too shabby yourself," Elizabeth joked, causing Sirius to chuckle before kissing her lightly.

"James and Peter are already in The Great Hall. I think Remus is awaiting for Sen. So, I say we go meet the boys," Sirius grinned, bowing in joke fashion before giving Elizabeth his hand, who curtsied and followed Sirius out of the common room.

Elizabeth felt more awkward than ever: as Sirius, James, Peter, and herself sat at an elegant table, covered with flowers, crystal glasses, and a white, embroidered table cloth, she could feel the eyes of many upon her. She shoved her food around with her fork, feeling more self-conscious than ever.

"You're not stuffing your face. This is a surprise," James joked as he lifted a burger to his face, ketchup smearing over his top lip. Elizabeth began laughing as she gestured toward the sight before shaking her head, glancing back at the people who were staring at her. She noticed that Lucius Malfoy had his mouth open to the point where she could probably see down to his intestines as he stared at her.

"I feel weird eating while everyone is looking at me," Elizabeth adjusted herself in her seat, attempting to avoid the creeping eyes as she looked down at her full plate.

"They're just jealous," Sirius whispered in her ear, sending a chill down her spine. Elizabeth glanced up at Sirius and beamed, grasping his chin and bringing him forward so she could give him a small kiss.

"Yo, not at the table! Gross," Peter grumbled, shoving his fork in his mouth. Elizabeth chuckled as she finally took a deep breath and brought herself to eating. When she looked over at James, she saw he had a very grim look on his face and was glaring at something behind her. Elizabeth turned around and saw that Amos Diggory was walking in with her beautiful sister.

"Ah," Elizabeth sighed, looking back at James who was violently stabbing his potatoes, "James, chill. Maybe they won't last long, and having a temper tantrum is only going to prove her theory that you're immature,"

James sighed and looked back at Lily longingly and then avoided eye contact as Lily giggled at a joke that Amos had told, "when is this dance going to actually start?"

"Looks like right now," Peter spoke as Albus Dumbledore stood up from his spot with a clap, causing the students to stand up and the tables and chairs to vanish. Suddenly, the lights dimmed and music started playing from an unknown source, groups of students laughing loudly as they wandered to the middle of the Great Hall, dancing obnoxiously.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get through this without drinking," Elizabeth scowled, watching Mary dance like a dying chicken with a Hufflepuff boy. James chuckled at her and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I can fix that," James pulled out a water bottle with a clear liquid, causing Elizabeth to raise an eyebrow. James handed the bottle to Elizabeth, who opened it, took a swig, and began coughing uncontrollably.

"You brought Vodka to the dance?" Elizabeth said loudly, causing Sirius and James to hush her equally as loudly.

"As much as I love spending time with you, looking at these imbeciles try and dance requires to be at least a little buzzed," Sirius said, grabbing the bottle from her and taking a small gulp.

"You two are bloody brilliant," Elizabeth grinned and took the bottle, sipped it before smiling at James, "that's all I'll have for tonight. Enough to make me not want to shoot a first year. Now, let's go," Elizabeth dragged James, Peter, and Sirius over to the dance floor where she placed a charm on the bottle of her dress to prevent herself from tripping and began dancing: or what James would probably call squirming.

"You can't dance!" Peter called over the music that increasingly got louder. Elizabeth laughed and nodded in agreement.

"I used to do ballet! Lily and I took it when we were young, but quit once our feet hurt like a bitch. No, I really can't dance," Elizabeth laughed again, spinning in a circle.

It was probably an hour and a half before Elizabeth felt like her feet were going to drop off and requested to go outside. It was around 10 o'clock and the moon was high, glistening above Sirius and Elizabeth as they strolled by The Black Lake, barefoot, their shoes in their hands.

"You know, I might have been able to get through that without a little Vodka," Elizabeth smiled, perfectly sober. The Vodka had little affect on any of them: which they assumed had something to do with having less than a shot glass worth.

"Me too," Sirius grabbed for Elizabeth's free hand and smiled, looking back up at the sky.

"I wish I knew less about you," Elizabeth said randomly, admiring the couples across the courtyard who were talking. Sirius raised an eyebrow and looked at Elizabeth, her blond hair shimmering in the moonlight, "I mean, I know practically everything about you. There's nothing for us to talk about,"

"Not true. We can talk about our days, we can talk about what we don't know," Sirius said, leading Elizabeth over to a patch of sand, where the couple sat down, digging their feet into it.

"Okay, then tell me about your day," Elizabeth grinned, waiting to hear what Sirius had done while she was out being pampered.

"Well, I woke up at about two. On the floor. I had pretty much no recollection of last night, but James filled me in on what he remembered. When I found out that Tungsteen asked you to strip, I went and stalked him down and told him if he ever talked to you again, I'd have to cut his arm off," Elizabeth chuckled at Sirius, "then Remus came and told me he didn't know what to wear, of which I helped him transfigure some of his clothes into a tux. I played a little Quidditch, took a shower, and then I found you,"

"Now, that lasted us what, a minute?" Elizabeth joked.

"Alright, then, tell me about the first time you ever used magic. The first time you remember," Elizabeth wandered through her memories, wondering when she remembered using magic. Elizabeth's eyes then became fuzzy and she remembered: something she hated talking about. She took a deep breath before she began.

"I was six and we were up in this antique cabin in Austria for Christmas. My grandparents had rented it out in the mountains instead of us staying at their house like usual. It was this beautiful cabin, it only had the essentials for electricity and was just amazing: it was made out of oak and was huge, there were carvings in the walls and I loved it. One morning, Lily woke up and told me that she wanted to go ice skating. It was a few days after Christmas and Petunia, herself, and I had received new ice skates. I told her we should wake up Petunia.

"So, we woke her up and wandered out to the lake only half a mile from the cabin. The sun was just rising and was shimmering on the ice across the frozen lake, and Petunia was yawning and said she was just going to sit and watch. Lily was so excited, she really wanted to use her skates. So both of us put on our skates and went to the ice, just on the edge. She stepped out first, and seeing that it was stable, I followed after her. We skated around for a little bit, joking and making noise in the middle of the woods, and then suddenly, we heard this crack.

"It was so fast, neither of us really knew what was going on. Lily looked down and saw that there was a huge crack below where she was standing and before she could move, the ice collapsed and she fell through. It had to be freezing, steam was coming up, maybe a couple degrees over. I ran over and she was so deep, and she had hit her head on the edge of the hole when she fell through and she was knocked unconscious.

"Petunia was screaming and running over and I didn't know what to do, she was so deep down. Maybe five feet and still falling. So I closed my eyes and begged for someone to help, I begged to be able to help her. I said I'd do anything just to keep her from dying. And then I opened my eyes and I couldn't really see because my eyesight was so blurry because I was crying, but my hands were glowing this really dull blue, and suddenly Lily started coming up toward the surface, still knocked out. When she got close enough, I pulled her out and carried her off the pond.

"Petunia was taking off her jacket and we were about to wrap Lily in it and run home, when suddenly, I remember thinking about how she needed to be dry, and then she just was. She wasn't wet at all: her hair was perfectly dry, her hands were warm, her breathing was steady. I remember looking at Petunia who seemed just as shocked as I was and then suddenly Lily opened her eyes. She remembered it, she remembered falling through the thin ice. None of us could understand how she survived or how she wasn't wet. We thought maybe we imagined it, all three of us. None of us ever told our parents, but I remember Lily and I telling Severus when we got back, and he seemed intrigued, but not surprised. He said we didn't imagine it, but didn't explain," Elizabeth breathed heavily, remembering the look on her sister's face as she fell through the ice: her green eyes sparkling with dread as she looked down.

Sirius stayed quiet for several moments, watching Elizabeth, deep in thought, "What did Petunia think?"

"To this day she denies it ever happened. Lily and I don't talk about it much, we sort of have this mutual agreement that we don't want to discuss it. But after that, I remember Lily never wanted to go ice skating. She gave her skates to charity, and whenever I would go I remember her being terrified, always saying she wanted to come with me and make sure I was okay. We both remember, even if we can't fully explain it," Elizabeth spoke, thinking of how Lily told her that night how much she loved her. Elizabeth smiled a bit before locking eyes with Sirius, "now, it's you're turn."

"Nothing that intense, for sure. I was just with Regulus and my parents at this pure-blood party during the summer and Malfoy was making fun of this muggle neighbor of his, and I remember feeling angry and then suddenly his hair caught on fire," Elizabeth chuckled, nodding at him.

"Still, pretty good story," Elizabeth smiled and leaned over to Sirius, kissing his frozen nose, "here, why don't we go inside before you're an icicle,"


End file.
